Senior Mechatronics Engineer in Exeter

Location: Exeter, Devon (on-site)

Type: Full-time, Permanent

Salary: Competitive + Benefits

About Rapid Fusion

Rapid Fusion designs and manufactures advanced robotic large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM) systems used in defence, aerospace, marine, and commercial sectors. Our platforms span both industrial robotic arms and large-format gantry systems, all built around high-throughput pellet extrusion and capable of printing large structural components that can't be made any other way. Our engineers work across both architectures — programming and operating motion controllers, integrating process hardware, and developing the toolchains that make it all run.

We are a fast-growing, founder-led business based in Exeter. We move fast, build real things, and work on problems that genuinely matter. If you want to spend your career doing something interesting, this is it.

The Role

We need a Senior Mechatronics Engineer with a strong additive manufacturing background to take full technical ownership across hardware, process, and user-facing software — leading a current programme to production readiness and then driving engineering across our broader platform portfolio.

This is not a role where you wait to be told what to do. You will own work packages end to end: scoping them, executing them, managing the people under you, and reporting progress on your own initiative. The expectation is that you keep yourself and your team unblocked, surface problems early, and deliver. You will manage a current mechatronics engineer and lead UI development alongside the wider software team.

You will work directly with the CTO, but the day-to-day direction of your work packages is yours to own. If you need to be chased for updates, this isn't the right role.

What You'll Do

• Take full ownership of assigned work packages — scope, plan, execute, and report progress without being prompted
• Manage a current mechatronics engineer: direct their work, unblock them, and be accountable for their output
• Own end-to-end systems integration on a robotic large-format additive manufacturing platform, from current development state to production readiness
• Resolve integration challenges across pellet extrusion, motion systems, thermal management, and process control
• Develop and validate process parameters — temperatures, pressures, speeds, layer strategy — to achieve consistent, repeatable print quality
• Lead UI development for operator-facing interfaces — working with the software team to define requirements, review designs, and ensure the HMI reflects real operator needs
• Define and execute acceptance testing and commissioning procedures, including print quality benchmarks
• Manage technical interfaces with suppliers and sub-contractors

Ongoing Engineering

• Lead mechatronics and process engineering on future LFAM platform development
• Build and maintain material characterisation capability — working with engineering polymers, composites, and high-temperature materials
• Set hardware and process engineering standards across the platform portfolio
• Support compliance work including CE/UKCA declarations, PSSR, and machinery risk assessments
• Contribute to Innovate UK and Horizon Europe R&D programmes
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to technical recruitment as the hardware team grows

What We Need

Essential

• Hands-on experience with large-format or industrial additive manufacturing systems — pellet extrusion, FGF, WAAM, or similar
• Strong process engineering background: understanding of how hardware parameters drive print quality, material behaviour, and structural performance
• Systems integration experience across mechanical, electrical, and control domains — comfortable owning all three
• Experience leading UI or HMI development for industrial or manufacturing systems — you understand what operators need and can translate that into a usable interface
• Demonstrable ability to manage people: direct a small team, set priorities, hold people accountable, and own the output
• Self-directed and proactive — you manage your own work packages, report progress without being asked, and raise problems before they become blockers
• Experience developing and validating process parameters for engineering-grade or high-performance materials
• Experience programming and configuring motion controllers for CNC or gantry-based systems — setting up axes, tuning motion profiles, and integrating peripheral hardware
• Ability to own technical documentation end-to-end: schematics, assembly drawings, FMEA, test plans, commissioning records

Desirable

• Experience with robotic LFAM systems (KUKA, ABB, Fanuc or similar) and/or large-format gantry systems — we run both KUKA robotic platforms and a Siemens-controlled gantry system
• Familiarity with KUKA KRC4/KRC5 and KRL programming, or Siemens CNC/motion control (S7, Sinumerik, or similar)
• Knowledge of engineering polymers and composites in an AM context — ABS, PA, PETG, CF/GF-filled materials
• Experience with toolpath generation, slicing strategy, or process simulation for large-format parts
• Knowledge of UK/EU machinery directive compliance (CE/UKCA, PSSR, EMC)
• SC clearance or eligibility — some programmes require it

What We Offer

• A genuinely interesting and varied role on technology that doesn't exist anywhere else
• Direct involvement in defence, aerospace, and marine programmes
• A small team where your decisions actually matter and your work is visible
• Competitive salary, reviewed regularly as the company grows
• Pension, 22 days holiday + bank holidays
• Opportunity to grow into a Head of Engineering role as the team scales

How to Apply

Send a CV and a short covering note (no more than half a page — tell us what you've built, not what you've attended) to: Martin.jewell@rapidfusion.co.uk

We will not consider applications from recruitment agencies for this role.

Rapid Fusion Ltd is an equal opportunities employer.