Mechanics Manager in Abingdon

Would you like to be instrumental in enabling the next generation of semi-conductors? Are you an experienced Mechanics Manager with knowledge of mechanical design best practices who can provide technical leadership and development to our mechanics team? Would you enjoy working with our senior leaders to shape the mechanics strategy for Infinitesima, including introducing effective tools for the team to operate effectively? If this sounds like you, read on.

Reward and Benefits

• £65,000 to £83,000 (depending on experience)
• 25 days annual leave
• Death in service and private health care benefits
• Personal pension contributions of 4% with salary sacrifice
• A generous EMI Share scheme

Based in Abingdon, Oxford, UK, we are a high calibre team of 100 plus people and we are growing fast. We are backed by global financial and industry investors including Applied Ventures, the strategic venture arm of the industry leading equipment company.

About the role

A typical day for a Mechanics Manager could look like this:

• Leading and developing the mechanics team, supporting career development through recruitment, mentoring, training and performance reviews.
• Providing technical leadership to the mechanics team, ensuring work is delivered to a high standard with consistent quality and capability.
• Working with senior leaders to shape the mechanics strategy, proposing and managing the tools and resources needed for the team to operate effectively.
• Driving continuous improvement across products, processes, tools and people.
• Collaborating with architects and project leads to break down requirements and ensure successful project delivery.
• Managing stakeholders across the business, partnering with other technical teams, departments and functions.
• Selecting, contracting and managing external partners, flexing short-term capacity and capability where appropriate.

Candidate profile

To succeed as a Mechanics Manager, we do need you to have the following skills or experience:

• Self-motivated and able to support and inspire a team to do their best work.
• Knowledge of mechanical design best practices and applying these pragmatically and collaboratively.
• Excellent communication (verbal and written) skills in English.
• Three years leadership and circa five years’ working in industry as a mechanical engineer where your role has involved design work as well as experience of FEA, DFM, GD&T analysis.
• Extensive hands-on mechanical design background using Solidworks and proficiency with EPDM, using CAD to drive the BoM structure, including documentation.
• A comprehensive understanding of product lifecycle management (requirements reviewing, design reviews, ECR, revision management).

Nice to have

• Project management
• Supporting operations with first article builds, quality inspections, in conjunction with the NPI team.
• JIRA or similar tool tracking software.
• Collaborating with external partners as part of delivery.
• Experience of environmental management (vibration/acoustic analysis/temperature).

Education and Qualifications

• Degree educated in Mechanics or related engineering discipline.
• Preferably CEng or similar recognition of ongoing development.
• Other scientific/technical disciplines considered if backed by relevant experience.

Attributes

• Self-management: Able to work independently, setting priorities for own work based upon the company goals and targets.
• Teamwork: Engages with other members of the company to bring the best solutions to the problem.
• Impact and Influence: Establishes themselves as the knowledge centre in their own field.
• Ownership & Initiative: React and address both short- and medium-term issues and proactively takes action to solve them.
• Results Orientation: Focus on the company goal, avoid distraction, making timely decisions to achieve the target.

About the company

Infinitesima is a privately owned company founded in 2001, as a spin-out of the University of Bristol, by CTO Professor Andrew Humphris. Our dynamic team of scientists and engineers is focussed on enabling the next generation of semiconductor devices through delivery of innovative products to customers around the world. Our strength lies in the varied perspectives that come from different cultures, experiences, and identities. We believe that true innovation is fuelled by collaboration, locally and globally. We strive to foster an environment where everyone can contribute meaningfully and thrive. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and aim to create a fair, supportive recruitment process.

This role needs someone who already has the permanent right to work in the UK. If a role calls for unique expertise that’s hard to find locally, we may explore sponsorship options — though this is uncommon.

A note on how we run interviews

We use AI only to transcribe our interviews so we can focus fully on you instead of scribbling notes. The AI does not take part in any decision making at any stage. All hiring decisions are made by real humans based on the conversation we have with you.

Location and work pattern

All of our new UK team members are asked to work on site here at Abingdon during their first three months with us. We offer flexible, hybrid working where possible upon completion of probation.