Production Engineering Manager in Oxford

Oxford Nanopore Technologies: Our goal is to bring the widest benefits to society through enabling the analysis of anything, by anyone, anywhere. The company has developed a new generation of nanopore-based sensing technology for faster, information rich, accessible and affordable molecular analysis. The first application is DNA/RNA sequencing, and the technology is in development for the analysis of other types of molecules including proteins. The technology is used to understand and characterise the biology of humans and diseases such as cancer, plants, animals, bacteria, viruses, and whole environments. With a thriving culture of ambition and strong innovation goals, Oxford Nanopore is a UK headquartered company with global operations and customers in more than 125 countries.

We are looking for a highly motivated individual to join our engineering team as a Production Engineer Manager to work on the world's first and only nanopore DNA sequencer. This is an exciting opportunity for someone passionate about new technology.

The Details… Job Summary

To guide and manage manufacturing engineering projects to deliver reliable and scalable manufacturing, introduce new capabilities, and maintain high standards of quality, safety, and compliance. The individual will focus on strategy implementation, process performance, and facilitating success of Engineering project objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• To facilitate the development of internal and external production processes within recognised quality systems.
• To establish and maintain production processes and quality for new products and improvements to existing products.
• To develop and implement measures that improve product quality (yield improvement, complaint reduction) and drive cost savings (labour, material, and overhead).
• The role has short/medium/long term operational responsibilities where the individual will have the responsibility to execute highly complex or specialised projects.
• To regularly monitor and report project status across multiple levels of the organisation.

Duties

• Provide manufacturing engineering support and project management to the production engineering project team.
• Coordinate transfer of new products into manufacturing considering manufacturability and efficiency of processes.
• Collate and interpret data to ensure the manufacturing processes are effectively maintained to achieve consistently high yields.
• Identify production problems/deficiencies and be able to use a methodical system to solve these.
• Knowledge of documentation control procedures and engineering change management.
• Manage, create, and maintain controlled documentation such as; Process Flows, Component specifications, Process Routers, Bills of Materials, Work and Inspection Instructions.
• Optimise the manufacturing processes - improving efficiencies, reducing wastage, enhancing yield and reducing cost.
• Collaborate across multiple functions, work with R&D, TT, Design Engineering, to implement new products and processes in a timely manner, reporting progress and status along the way.
• Manufacturing and development support for existing processes and for new products, product changes, line extensions and enhancements.
• Co-ordination and scheduling of project team members to meet planned time scales and be able to offer status updates along the way.
• Responsible for implementation and qualification of new or modified manufacturing and test equipment to achieve the specified requirements and implementation dates.
• Prepare and maintain documentation requirements to support and control manufacturing processes.
• Support company goals and objectives, policies and procedures and regulatory requirements.
• Any other duties as might be required within the remit and responsibilities of the post.

What We're Looking For...

We'll expect you to have a degree in mechanical engineering or a similar subject and you'll be apprentice trained with significant relevant industrial experience. You'll have a background of production engineering within a highly regulated industry such as medical or aerospace and have worked in manual cell manufacturing where lean initiatives have been practised. You'll be a Manufacturing Engineering professional with a proven ability to lead complex projects from concept through to scalable production. Experienced in implementing robust manufacturing strategies, introducing new capabilities, and optimising processes to deliver high-quality cost-effective outcomes. Skilled in cross-functional collaboration, and continuous improvement. Adept at managing multiple projects simultaneously, ensuring timely delivery, and maintaining clear communication across all organisational levels. Also desirable would be experience with automating and semi-automating processes for medical products. You'll have experience in establishing and validating pilot production lines as well as in performing FMEAs, verifications and validations for medical devices products and processes. Alongside your strong technical background, you'll be a strong communicator with excellent writing skills enabling you to create detailing specifications, processes and manufacturing documentation. You'll also be proficient in Microsoft Applications including Project Excel and Visio. Competency in Solidworks would also be advantageous.

This role will suit someone who enjoys working collaboratively with others from multi-disciplinary teams, likes to take a hands-on approach and is a proactive problem solver. This is an excellent opportunity to work in a cutting-edge, high-tech industry in a fast-paced working environment on exciting projects where you can make an impact. We offer outstanding benefits to include an attractive bonus, generous pension contributions, private healthcare and an excellent starting salary.