Chief Engineer - Mechanical in London

Due to sustained growth, a significant forward order workload and a continued commitment to be at the forefront of the industry, our client is now searching for a vastly experienced Chief Engineer (Mechanical). This position is based from our clients Derbyshire office with one day a week working from home available and a 37.5 hour working week.

The successful candidate will act as the company’s technical authority and be responsible for leading and approving innovative, creative and winning design packages in line with client key drivers, and project programmes and budgets. You will take accountability directing and supporting a team of Design Engineers of varying levels of experience.

You should have experience from the mechanical engineering sector in manufacturing or production with expertise in areas such as industrial, aerospace, pipework, HVAC, automotive, metal fabrication, structural steelwork, oil & gas etc. You should also possess a full UK driving licence and the right to work in the UK without sponsorship.

The Role

• To ensure on time delivery of Right First Time compliant designs
• To lead all mechanical design activities within the engineering design department
• Provide day to day accountability for the department and its team of Design Engineers
• Provide advice and support to the sales and applications function in the tendering of work
• To ensure work is completed efficiently to project timescales and to acceptable standards
• To promote value engineering activity and cost reduction at all levels
• Maintaining relevant processes and updating as necessary to fulfil the business needs
• Oversee General Engineering Governance
• Monitor engineering progress and provide status reports to the Technical Director
• Manage and review mechanical design resources to ensure availability of load and capacity to support business needs
• To schedule resources and assign work tasks to the mechanical design engineers, including input to planning activities for engineering, and support project programmes
• To provide the technical input for engineering purchase specifications
• To generate technical reports, calculations and design schemes
• Check and approve design schemes, customer calculations, subcontract technical submissions and ensure quality and consistency of submissions in line with current working practices and standards are maintained
• Manage subcontract designs from a technical aspect effectively and efficiently
• Maintain job records in accordance with company norms and practices
• Represent the Mechanical Design Engineering function at Customer site reviews
• Maintain company records and knowledge base definition drawings and interpret and approve engineering drawings produced by your team
• Generate concise and presentable sketches and reports for issue to a range of customers
• Interpret and implement engineering specifications and standards to ensure compliance
• Preparation of engineering calculations over a number of disciplines in support of designs
• Perform concept and detail design work applying dynamic, mechanical, and thermo-fluid principles to generate optimum customer solutions
• Design hazard identification and risk reduction
• Liaise with other relevant departments to ensure correct levels of resource are maintained. Identify any shortfalls and work with department head to recruit or subcontract
• Review and appraise the mechanical design team with consideration of competency
• To lead by example and operate to the highest engineering professional code of conduct

The Person

• Possess a mechanical engineering degree and experience in a team leading / similar role and have advanced understanding of mechanical engineering principles
• Ability to create and approve technical designs to satisfy customer requirements with proficiency in standard industry design packages
• A focus on building and maintaining client and supplier relationships
• Strong organisational and communication skills to support project and company goals
• Experience of working in a fast-paced environment and delivering to challenging timescales
• Strong competence and skills in relevant computer packages to support your role
• Management and people skills, leadership and team working and able to prioritise and work to deadlines, a completer finisher

Our Client

Our client is a market leading design, build, installation, fabrication and maintenance organisation operating at the cutting edge of engineering excellence driven and supported by a passion for innovation. They have continuously diversified and expanded their expertise, enabling them to deliver a huge range of advanced engineering solutions for the Aerospace, Marine, Energy, Oil & Gas, Infrastructure and Automotive sectors, amongst many others. They not only always complete projects successfully and to the highest of standards but also add value to their clients by giving total support from the beginning to the end of every contract. An attractive basic salary plus extensive benefits package is on offer to the successful candidate, along with longevity and security of work and forward career progression given that our client possesses a significant contract pipeline for the long-term future and is firmly committed to continued growth over the next 5-10 years.