Capability Lead in Cockermouth

Field based, Cockermouth, Bingley & Gourock

About James Walker: A privately owned global manufacturing organisation, supplying a vast range of high-performance fluid sealing products and associated knowledge-based services to virtually every industry sector. With state-of-the-art skills in materials technology, particularly relating to elastomers, polymers, composites and engineering plastics plus extensive expertise in precision machining of exotic alloys for metallic seals, and tension control fasteners for bolted joints.

Your Role: We are seeking an experienced and result-driven Engineering Process Capability Lead, to oversee our industrialisation process implementation project. This is a strategic leadership role focused on defining, developing, and improving the methods, tools, and skills used by the engineering teams to deliver products or projects efficiently and within specifications. This role bridges the gap between theoretical engineering design and practical, high-quality production.

Working with the Industrialisation Lead, the Process Capability Lead will develop and support strategies to drive the NPI and new industrialisation process throughout the business.

Key Differences and Role Clarity:

• Project Manager: The Capability Lead will focus on how work is done (methods/tools) across the organization, whereas a Project Manager focuses on when specific tasks are completed.
• Production Manager: The Capability Lead will be responsible for all the technical processes and company engineering capability, while the Production Manager focuses on daily output and workforce management.

Key Responsibilities and Skills:

• Supporting the New Product Introduction (NPI) process: Transitioning products from R&D to production, creating assembly instructions, and validating manufacturing processes.
• Use of TRL and MRL levels.
• Experience and proven leadership of Lean Six Sigma methods.
• Experience with leading process capability implementation across complex industrial sites.
• Knowledge of APQP and PPAP.
• Presentations at senior level.
• Training and Mentoring.

The ideal candidate will be responsible for ensuring Process Capability operational efficiency, meeting business goals and objectives. Assisting the delivery of the industrialisation process, and fostering an environment of innovation and continuous improvement.

Core Responsibilities:

• Process Transformation & Optimization: Leading initiatives to enhance the agility and efficiency of the engineering organization, implementing methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma.
• Engineering Governance & Standards: Establishing and enforcing standardized processes for design, development, testing, and deployment to ensure consistency across projects.
• Capability Development & Skill Mapping: Identifying skill gaps within engineering teams and developing training or acquisition strategies to ensure the workforce can deliver on strategic objectives.
• Tool & Technology Implementation: Evaluating current methods and tooling and deploying engineering tools, to improve productivity and data-driven decision-making.
• Performance Measurement (KPIs): Monitoring key metrics e.g Cp – Cpk Pp - Ppk to quantify how well processes meet customer requirements and to identify areas for improvement.

Typical Qualifications & Skills:

• Experience: Minimum 10+ years in engineering management, specifically with experience in governance and process improvement.
• Education: A degree in engineering or a related field (BEng/MEng).
• Skills: Strong understanding of Six Sigma (Green/Black Belt), Lean methodologies, and data analysis tools (e.g., Minitab etc).
• Leadership: Ability to mentor engineering staff, drive organisational change, and collaborate with senior stakeholders.
• Mentorship: Be able to train out the key process capability skills to up-skill the current team.
• Proven experience in an industrialisation and continuous improvement managerial role.
• Experience in a highly regulated sector such as Aerospace or Automotive.
• Experience in quality processes, quality standards, and health & safety processes.
• Strong understanding of industrial operations and processes.
• Excellent project management and organizational skills.
• Knowledge of performance evaluation metrics in an industrial setting.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.
• Strong leadership and communication skills.
• Experience of compliance with industrial standards and safety regulations.
• Analyse experience of production metrics and data to determine areas of improvement.

Qualifications: Minimum 10+ years in engineering management or process improvement. BSc in Industrial Business systems, or relevant field; MSc will be a plus.