Packaging Design Engineer

Our Head Office department is in the heart of Piccadilly and occupies the 5th & 6th floor of our beautiful flagship store. This central London location offers so much to explore including restaurants, bars, cultural sites, shopping and more, and only a short walk from the Green Park Tube Station and plenty of bus stops.

We are seeking a Packaging Engineer with strong experience in luxury retail packaging, sustainability compliance, and operational environments to own and drive the end-to-end redesign/enhancement of our packaging portfolio. The primary focus will be GNFR packaging, with support to GFR packaging where required.

The role exists to improve customer experience through better packaging design, while delivering measurable sustainability outcomes, enhancing operational efficiency (particularly within the Distribution Centre), and supporting with regulatory costs associated with UK Packaging EPR and RAM obligations.

Acting as the internal technical expert for packaging, this role will translate legislation, material innovation, and engineering best practice into practical, implementable packaging solutions. This includes redesigning packaging formats and specifications, optimising material selection, improving pack performance through the supply chain, strengthening supplier capability, and ensuring designs can be consistently executed at scale across the business.

• EPR & RAM compliance leadership
  • Lead the EPR and RAM compliance agenda for packaging, ensuring accurate, complete, and auditable data to meet regulatory requirements and reduce compliance risk.
  • Drive improvements in RAM outcomes through packaging redesign, material selection, and specification changes, prioritising packaging formats with the greatest regulatory exposure.
  • Translate EPR and RAM requirements into practical, engineering led packaging solutions that support more sustainable and compliant packaging across the business.
  • Own, or co‑own with Sustainability and Finance, the EPR exposure model, ensuring obligated weights, materials, and assumptions are robust and understood.
  • Act as the central technical point of contact for external partners (consultants, auditors, data providers), ensuring coordinated supplier engagement and timely delivery of compliance requirements.
• Packaging Design, Specification & Performance (GNFR & GFR)
  • Lead the optimisation of GNFR and support GFR packaging through redesign, material choice, and specification control, improving sustainability, customer experience, and pack performance.
  • Develop and govern fit for purpose packaging specifications, ensuring quality, regulatory compliance, and consistent execution across suppliers and formats.
  • Evaluate and trial alternative materials and formats (e.g. fibre, mono‑material, plastic reduction, recyclability improvements), balancing design intent, protection, and supply chain practicality.
  • Lead cross functional delivery of packaging changes across Procurement, Design, Buying, Logistics, IT, Finance, Ecommerce, and international markets.
  • Own and improve packaging data, specifications, and governance, ensuring accurate, compliant, and consistent execution across GNFR (and potentially some areas of GFR).
  • Research, test, and implement new packaging materials and formats, working closely with suppliers to ensure scalable and practical solutions.
• Operational efficiency at Distribution Centre
  • Work closely with DC, Logistics, and Ecommerce teams to ensure packaging is DC friendly, reducing damage, waste, packing variability, and unnecessary complexity.
  • Support the rollout of rightsized, right strength packaging solutions for ecommerce, hampers, and transit, improving efficiency and consistency in fulfilment.

We expect the successful candidate to have the following skills and experience:

• Commercially minded and entrepreneurial, with the ability to identify opportunities, build business cases, and convert sustainability requirements into cost, risk, and operational outcomes.
• Bachelor’s degree in Packaging Engineering, Materials Science, Sustainability, or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• 3–5 years’ experience in packaging design within a retail, FMCG, or complex supply chain environment.
• Strong working knowledge of packaging materials, formats, and specifications, with the ability to assess trade‑offs between sustainability, cost, performance, and customer experience.
• Proven experience working with regulatory and compliance requirements, including packaging legislation, testing procedures, and global shipping requirements.
• Excellent problem‑solving skills, with high attention to detail and the ability to prioritise high risk and high impact issues.
• Able to work independently and cross functionally, influencing stakeholders across Procurement, Sustainability, Logistics, Design, and external suppliers without direct authority.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, capable of engaging both technical and non‑technical audiences.

• Strong analytical capability, with confidence working with packaging data, cost models, and regulatory impact assessments.
• Practical experience with UK Packaging EPR, PRNs, fee exposure, or RAM style recyclability assessments (or equivalent EU frameworks).
• Experience partnering with Logistics or DC operations to reduce packaging related damage, waste, or inefficiency.
• Experience mobilising suppliers to deliver packaging data, specification changes, or material transitions at pace.
• Exposure to packaging cost reduction or specification rationalisation programmes across GNFR and/or GFR categories.

• A generous store and restaurant discount of up to 40%
• 25 days holidays (excluded bank holidays) and an extra day off for your birthday
• A fantastic subsidised staff restaurant which uses Fortnum’s ingredients
• A range of opportunities to develop and grow personally and professionally
• We are committed to developing your career and nurturing your talent, regardless of age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation. We respect and embrace each other's differences, to create a truly inclusive environment.