Quality Engineer in Newcastle upon Tyne

This is a site-based role within heavy engineering / fabrication, a hands-on role suited to someone who is technically strong, personable, and able to work closely with production, fabrication, and welding teams to maintain and improve quality standards across the business.

We are looking to recruit an experienced and motivated Quality Engineer to play a key role as part of our team who make sure we consistently deliver work that meets our rigorous quality and customer standards.

With a combined workforce of over 2,000 employees and operations spanning Gibraltar, Padstow, Tyne, Birkenhead, and Falmouth, Balaena is one of the UK’s most dynamic and regionally anchored maritime groups - combining industrial agility, innovation, and community partnership to support national resilience, commercial competitiveness, and sustainability across both naval and merchant ship sectors.

The integration of Balaena’s modern facilities in Gibraltar and Padstow with APCL’s infrastructure on Tyne, Birkenhead and Falmouth create one of the world’s most capable ship repair and shipbuilding groups - with a network of 12 dry docks and strategic reach across the UK and the Mediterranean.

We respond quickly to defence and commercial requirements and deliver consistent quality and reliability to clients worldwide. Using in-house capabilities to maintain tight project control, we work closely together with our customers to deliver what they need, as they need it, when they need it.

Responsibilities:

• Review security sensitive client IP to determine quality requirements like material grade, welding process, NDE requirements, intervention points, acceptance criteria, verifying records and any stipulated intervention points.
• Develop, manage and update multiple inspection test plans for projects, looking at Scope of Work, Inspection and Test Activities, Responsible Parties, Frequency of Inspections, Documentation and Acceptance Criteria.
• Collaborate with our project team to ensure the ITPs are aligned with requirements and build the manufacturing record books, ensuring all reports generated during manufacturing processes are completed.
• Conduct surveillance tours of the units at our Tyne facility to flag any quality concerns.
• Work with the team to resolve identified quality issues.
• Attend and contribute within project progress and quality meetings.

Requirements:

• A degree in Engineering or a related field or minimum HND or equivalent qualification with strong knowledge of welding and fabrication processes.
• The ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, spot concerns and constructively and efficiently work on solutions with customers.
• Experience in quality engineering and inspection plan creation and management.
• Technical expertise and knowledge of heavy fabrication processes, materials and industry standards with a keen eye for detail and understanding of the importance of quality.
• In-depth knowledge of quality standards and regulations.
• Organisation, communication and diplomacy skills developed through both working on projects and within teams.
• IT skills with various Microsoft packages such as Pro, Word and Excel.
• Comfortable working as part of a small developing team who will support the development of others.

Why join us?

• Personal Growth: This is an opportunity to make a significant impact while working with and learning from a team of experts from the marine and structural engineering industries.
• Financial Security: Important benefits like your Pension which includes a monthly employer contribution up to 4% and Life cover at 7 x your basic salary.
• Healthy Living: We support healthy living and provide help when needed, including sick pay and a health cash plan for everyday healthcare costs.
• Work-life Balance: We offer 25 days of annual leave per year plus Bank Holidays, with support for maternity, paternity and parental leave.

Due to the nature of what we do for some of the customers that we work with, some roles are subject to security control restrictions. You must also undergo a Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) check before your employment starts, which will include a basic DBS check.