Team leader - Mechanical engineer (fabrication) in Oxford

Do you like to invent and develop high tech? Are you a hands-on engineer? Are you prepared to get stuck in and be part of a small but growing team?

More about you:

• You have spent your career at the hardest end of manufacturing, where separate systems need to be improved and then brought together into something bigger, which has never existed before.
• You understand special purpose machinery and complex system integration from the ground up.
• You have taken individual production systems, developed them to the level they need to reach, and integrated them into a single, functional production machine.
• You are not a ‘desk person’ – you are practically minded and can work alone or as part of a team.

If this sounds like you then join us and be part of a team developing our new technology that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world! INITION has developed a patented technology that changes how battery electrodes are made. You will take our proprietary production system through its next critical engineering phase - solving complex technical challenges and scaling it to full commercial readiness.

This is not a role where you inherit someone else's roadmap. You will own it. You will define the engineering programme, solve the hard problems, and build the team around you. You will be the founding Head of Mechanical Engineering for a capability that does not yet exist anywhere in the world at commercial scale.

The Role: Lead of mechanical engineering. This is a builder-leader role for a senior engineer who has developed separate production systems to their full potential and integrated them into a single, functional production machine. You will maintain a full vision of the system architecture while developing each subsystem - technically authoritative, hands-on where it counts, and simultaneously founding the engineering team that takes the technology to full commercial readiness.

Key Responsibilities

• Take full technical ownership of delivering INITION's first pilot proprietary 3D electrode production system.
• Take technical ownership of INITION's separate production systems, improving each to the level required and integrating them into a single, functional prototype electrode production machine.
• Define and drive the engineering roadmap from current development stage through to a robust, commercially viable production system.
• Apply rigorous engineering discipline across mechanical design, process control, automation, and systems integration.
• Work hands-on alongside the team - presence in the workshop building and testing your vision with the team.

Building the Engineering Team, Founding Responsibility

• Define INITION's production engineering function from the ground up: structure, roles, tools, standards, and culture with the founders.
• Recruit and onboard hands-on engineers capable of working at the frontier of a novel production technology.
• Establish the engineering processes and documentation practices that will scale with the company through each commercialisation phase.
• Be the kind of technical leader that exceptional engineers want to follow - credible, hands-on, and invested in their growth.

Materials & Process Integration

• Work at the interface of mechanical engineering and materials science - understanding how production process decisions affect electrode structure and performance.
• Collaborate with the electrochemistry team to ensure the production system consistently delivers against performance targets.
• Ensure machine development and materials science advance in lockstep.

IP & Technical Governance

• Protect and strengthen INITION's patent position throughout the engineering development process — the production system is the IP.
• Work with IP counsel to ensure all engineering decisions reinforce the company's proprietary position.
• Maintain rigorous technical documentation to support investor due diligence and future commercial discussions.

What We're Looking For

• Around 10 years of experience demonstrable to take this position.
• Proven track record of improving separate production systems and integrating them into a single, functional special purpose machine - you have done both the subsystem development and the whole-system integration work.
• Strong engineering foundation across machine design, process control, automation, and systems integration.
• Experience building or leading an engineering team, ideally in a startup, scale-up, or advanced manufacturing environment.
• Hands-on and technically authoritative.
• Sufficient understanding of materials processing to work at the interface of machine development, performance and production output.
• Rigorous approach to engineering documentation, IP, and technical governance.

You May Come From

We are not looking for a specific industry background. The right candidate may come from:

• Semiconductor or electronics manufacturing.
• Paper / packaging manufacturing.
• Plastic extrusion / membrane production systems.
• Medical devices or precision instruments.
• Aerospace components or advanced materials.
• Printed electronics or advanced coatings.
• Fuel cells or electrochemical systems.
• Precision optics, photonics, or micro-fabrication.
• Any precision manufacturing environment where process consistency and structured production are critical.

Highly Desirable

• Background in battery, fuel cell, or electrochemical manufacturing equipment.
• Experience with precision coating, structured deposition, extrusion, or roll-to-roll processing.
• Prior Head of Engineering, Chief Engineer, or equivalent founding engineering leadership in a deep-tech startup or scale-up.
• Experience with defence or subsea qualification requirements for production systems.
• Experience designing and building special purpose machinery based on novel technology.

Compensation & Equity

Base Salary £70,000 – £85,000, reflecting the pre-Series A stage, the package is designed to compensate through equity and a contractual step-up on funding.