Assembly Technician

Location: Based 5 days on-site at Sunswap’s Leatherhead HQ (KT22 7BA, UK)

Salary: up to £27,500 (dependent on experience)

About us

Every refrigerated truck and trailer moving goods across the country has relied on diesel for decades. It’s polluting, expensive, and the technology hasn’t changed. Two companies have dominated the market, selling the same legacy technology with minor updates.

Sunswap makes the electric refrigeration that’s replacing it – zero emissions, lower operating costs, built from the ground up for how fleets actually operate. We’ve gone from founding to manufacturing at scale globally in just six years. We built our own production facility in Surrey. We are trusted by major brands like Tesco, Ocado, Birds Eye, and Happy Eggs every single day. With units operating across the UK, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Chile, and Australia.

We’ve been named Sunday Times Best Place to Work 2024 and 2025. We’ve won awards for innovation, technology, and marketing excellence. We’ve secured backing from BGF, Barclays, and Clean Growth Fund. We’ve got the customers, the traction, and the momentum.

Now we’re taking this British-engineered product global. Scaling manufacturing. Opening new markets. Building the team that will make legacy polluting technology obsolete across the world.

If you want to be part of a company that’s setting new standards for the industry and scaling internationally, this is it.

Job overview

Sunswap is a growing and innovative business developing Transport Refrigeration Units. As we scale, we are building our production capability alongside product development.

We are looking for a focussed, disciplined and dependable Assembly Technician to support both production and development builds. You will work from detailed digital instructions and play an important part in building our systems to a consistent, high standard.

This is a structured build environment. We value people who work methodically, follow defined processes, and take pride in doing things properly.

Key responsibilities

• Build production Transport Refrigeration Units in line with defined digital work instructions
• Support kitting and preparation of parts for both development and production builds
• Identify when parts or assemblies do not fit or align as expected
• Clearly and accurately communicate build issues to Team Leaders and Engineers to support effective resolution
• Use manual hand tools correctly, including torque wrenches to specification
• Route and secure low voltage, high current wiring harnesses neatly and safely
• Adhere to defined safe systems of work and maintain a clean, organised working environment
• Participate in continuous improvement activities and provide practical ideas to enhance safety, quality and efficiency
• Work independently on assigned task blocks, typically over one to two days, under the guidance of a Team Leader

Qualifications & experience

• Ideally at least 1 year of hands‑on experience in one of the following environments
• Automotive sector
• Prototype build
• Motorsport/Aerospace
• Commercial vehicles
• Or a similar technical assembly environment
• Strong practical ability demonstrated through industry experience, personal projects or other hands‑on technical work
• We recognise that capable, detail-oriented individuals may have developed relevant skills outside of formal industry settings. Candidates who can clearly demonstrate practical competence, care in execution and respect for process will be considered.
• Comfortable working in a structured, process-led environment
• Confident following detailed digital build instructions
• Ability to follow step-by-step written assembly instructions accurately and consistently
• Clear and professional communication when raising build issues
• Good awareness of health and safety practices and correct use of PPE

This role may also suit engineering graduates who are looking to strengthen their practical, hands‑on capability within a growing product environment. While the focus is on assembly rather than design, it provides valuable exposure to live builds and close collaboration with engineering teams.

Nice to have

• Excellent demonstrable hands‑on skills using manual tools in R&D or production environments
• Experience working in a structured assembly environment
• Experience in environments with elements of automatic assembly
• Experience in various computer software used for testing, and development of electrical systems
• A background in electrical assembly environments.