Mechanical Design Manager in Tadcaster

About Our Client

Our client is a global leader in automation and packaging solutions with over 100 years of engineering heritage. Headquartered in North Yorkshire, our client designs and builds highly complex, bespoke automation systems for world-leading pharmaceutical, medical, food and beverage organisations. The Mechanical Engineering team is responsible for the physical architecture of some of the most sophisticated bespoke automation machinery in the industry.

The Opportunity

This is a senior leadership role at the heart of our client’s engineering function. As Mechanical Engineering Manager, you will lead the Mechanical Engineering department, reporting directly to the Head of Engineering and working as a peer to the Controls Engineering Manager. Together, you and the Controls Engineering Manager jointly lead the engineering function - two discipline leaders, one shared ambition to deliver world-class bespoke automation. This is a people leadership and resource management role, not a hands-on design position. The team uses Inventor and SolidWorks as their primary tools.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Leadership & Resource Management
  • Lead the Mechanical Engineering department - strategic direction, resource planning and day-to-day operational management
  • Allocate engineering resources across all mechanical workstreams, ensuring the right skills are matched to the right projects
  • Monitor and report departmental utilisation - balance workloads and proactively identify capacity constraints
  • Develop and mentor Team Leaders and senior engineers - build talent pipelines and succession planning within the department
• Quality & Continuous Improvement
  • Oversee quality of mechanical engineering outputs - adherence to standards, procedures and regulatory requirements
  • Review and track non-conformances and COPQ - ensure timely corrective actions and prevention measures are in place
  • Drive continuous improvement in engineering processes, documentation and design methodologies
  • Support compliance with CE marking and relevant mechanical engineering standards
• Cross-functional Collaboration
  • Collaborate with Project Responsible Engineers (PREs) to ensure mechanical workstreams align with project milestones
  • Support the pre-sales process by reviewing and optimising mechanical engineering lead times
  • Work as a genuine peer with the Controls Engineering Manager - joint ownership of engineering function performance

What We’re Looking For

• Essential
  • Proven people management experience leading mechanical engineering teams in a project-based environment
  • Background in mechanical design and engineering within bespoke automation, capital equipment or packaging machinery
  • Experience managing resource allocation and workload balancing across concurrent engineering workstreams
  • Track record of driving continuous improvement in engineering processes and quality metrics
  • Proficiency in SolidWorks and/or Inventor - the team uses both
• Desirable
  • Background in pharmaceutical, medical, food & beverage or packaging automation - our client’s primary markets
  • Experience with COPQ management and engineering non-conformance processes
  • Familiarity with CE marking and relevant mechanical engineering standards
  • Degree in Mechanical Engineering or related discipline

Why This Role?

This is an opportunity to lead a mechanical engineering department at one of the UK’s most respected automation OEMs - with the autonomy, the team, and the project pipeline to make a genuine impact.

What this role offers:

• Senior leadership mandate at a globally recognised automation OEM with over a century of engineering heritage
• Autonomous department leadership - shape the Mechanical Engineering function with real authority
• Peer-level collaboration with Controls Engineering Manager - genuine joint leadership of the engineering function
• Active and growing project pipeline in pharmaceutical and medical automation
• Flexible location - commutable from a wide geography across the Midlands and North of England
• Established, experienced team with strong foundations to build upon
• Report directly to the Head of Engineering - strategic influence from day one

Application Process

This role is being exclusively managed by Alexander Daniels Global. All applications are handled in strict confidence.