Principal Mechanical Engineer in Horsham

Role Purpose: Chess Dynamics is an established Leading Design and Manufacturing business, with several sites across the UK. Our product/systems range is cutting edge and services the defence industries with solutions that fully meet specific client requirements - driving innovation is at the heart of everything we do. We currently require an experienced Principal Mechanical Design Engineer to join our skilled engineering team. This is an exciting senior role with the opportunity to provide technical leadership in the design, development and delivery of advanced electro-optical surveillance, tracking, fire control and positioning systems for defence applications across land and maritime domains.

As a Principal Mechanical engineer you will be responsible for leading mechanical engineering activities from concept generation through the whole design lifecycle. Working closely with a multi-disciplinary team, you will help drive innovation in precision mechanisms, servo systems, structural assemblies and sensor integration, while mentoring engineers and establishing engineering best practices. The successful candidate will also play a key role in customer engagement and technical governance, contributing to the development of mission-critical systems that deliver world-class surveillance, targeting and tracking capabilities for defence customers worldwide.

Key Responsibilities:

• Have demonstrable innovative design and analytical skills in Electro-Mechanical complex mechanisms.
• Provide leadership and technical direction within a medium size, mixed discipline, project design team to produce quality design solutions in line within budget, time and quality requirements.
• Lead in the creation of designs in 3D CAD using SolidWorks software and other mathematical modelling tools.
• Lead and work in collaboration with the team to perform classical engineering analysis on designs, for performance including stress, fatigue & vibration using conventional analysis and computer simulation.
• Produce and manage detail engineering and assembly drawings for manufacturing, perform lab development and testing for verification and conformance of design outputs to meet the design inputs.
• Be responsible for leading and developing engineering reports to support new product designs, failure investigation and any other formal documentation to support customer requirements.
• Have extensive experience and knowledge of material selection for use in extreme environmental conditions.
• Have extensive experience and knowledge of processes and coatings for the prevention of corrosion.
• Have extensive experience and knowledge of machining, fabrication and other manufacturing techniques.
• Coordinate with wider engineering teams to integrate electronic, control and drive systems into equipment designs.
• Formulate prototype designs and present the rationale for such designs.
• Provide key support to resolving technical problems and deliver effective solutions.
• Lead and support design reviews and sign off release of mechanical designs into production.
• Closely liaise and support the project managers and business department managers with the timely execution of the projects.
• Present and lead internal and external design reviews and actively liaise with customers and suppliers for the timely execution of the projects.
• Provide support for the production, test and field engineering teams. Support the sales teams with bids and quotations.
• Work with project managers and sales teams to provide time estimates for design activities and keep appraised of progress.
• Support and assist the Sales Team in producing proposals and quotations/sales literature.

Skills & Experience Essential:

• Have a flair for innovation, new concept designs and a passion for mechanical engineering.
• Degree educated in Mechanical Engineering is essential.
• Have experience in the design of complex mechanisms and structures for use in harsh environments - preferably in the defence industry.
• Have proven experience in the design of systems from original concept design, produced from a specification, through to production in a Lead role.
• The ability to analyse the loads on, and design solutions for, items such as gear drives bearings and motors.
• A good understanding of motion control/servo control precision mechanisms.
• An understanding of the application of machining, casting, fabrication and moulding techniques.
• Have experience in the use of SolidWorks CAD system.
• Strong understanding (where required) of the technical work being carried out and related activities.
• Be experienced in managing the day-to-day activities of a small to medium size project design team, controlling workload, design output.
• Experience of working in ideally the Defence or related sectors particularly in R&D and manufacturing.
• Provide and manage process instructions, support documentation (manuals etc.), risk assessments reviews, safety reviews, quality and health and safety assessments and control measures.

Security Clearance Requirements:

Due to the nature of our business, our staff need to be able to obtain UK Security Clearance as a mandated requirement. Therefore, if successful, you will need to provide proof of identity, employment history and right to work in the UK, along with proof of UK residency for at least five years.