Technical Lead - Print System in Cambridge

Inkjet Innovator. Trusted Partner. Sustainable Future. Xaar is here to create a world where you can print anything you can imagine. Xaar has defined 5 values which are vital to our business; each represents an area of essential importance to us. Their existence is intended to guide difficult decisions and shape behaviour.

• Creative – we push the boundaries of what’s possible
• Collaborative – everyone is a partner; we help each other freely and willingly
• Innovative – we always strive to constantly improve
• Integrity – we deliver on our promises
• Passion – we care about our technology, our products, our partners and each other

Purpose of Role

A key member of the R&D team, leading and owning the work on Inkjet Print System development. The successful candidate must be capable of owning all of the technical aspects relating to the successful delivery of highly technical R&D projects. The candidate will work alongside a Project Manager to ensure successful delivery of R&D projects. Whilst the Project Manager will be responsible for on-time and on-budget delivery, the Technical Lead will be responsible for on-quality delivery. As such, the Technical Lead will be steering and reviewing the tasks within the Mechanical, Electronics, Software and Fluids teams. Reporting to the Director of Projects, this role requires experience and skills across the full development lifecycle; from capturing the VoC, creating the technical specification through design and verification, and into production and product integration. The role will as such interface and interact with many disciplines both within and outside of R&D. The role will be based at both Xaar’s R&D headquarters at the Cambridge Research Park, Waterbeach and Xaar’s second R&D site in Huntingdon. When required there will be the requirement to travel to customer sites.

Key Accountabilities

• Translation of Customer requirements into technical design specifications to meet new product requirements, assessing technical risks and planning for mitigation accordingly.
• Technical architecture and accountability for the development of Inkjet Print System products including but not limited to Ink Systems, Print Heads, Control electronics, fluids.
• Proactive coordination and influencing of cross-disciplinary engineering resource (R&D, Manufacturing & Customer Support) to solve technical problems.
• To ensure the product complies with its specification in terms of functionality, performance and reliability from a technical perspective by creating, planning and managing verification and validation programs alongside the R&D Product Test team.
• Responsible for ensuring that new product developments are delivered to quality.
• Providing estimates and schedules for allocated project tasks.
• Supporting Project Managers in updating and maintaining project forecasts for effort and material spend.
• To be hands-on supporting product integration and acceptance testing.
• Assisting customer support in preparation of technical manuals, training courses etc. and supporting resolution of design issues which occur during early product life.
• To identify and register all patentable ideas and take action to avoid potential infringements.
• To collaborate with Product Management and continuously develop awareness and understanding of market and customer requirements; technology development trends and commercial implications to help improve design.
• To maintain commercially deployed products and provide technical support to end customers.
• Focuses on the continuous improvement of own skills and R&D processes in own discipline.

Knowledge, experience and qualifications:

• A minimum of 10 years product development experience within high-tech R&D environments with awareness of discipline best practice.
• Relevant degree (BEng/BSc / MEng/MSc / PhD) in Engineering or Physics.
• Experience of technical leadership within an R&D environment.
• Experience of the full life cycle of product development from concept through manufacturing & support to EOL.
• Experience of specifying technical requirements & production of high quality technical reports.
• Experience of electro-mechanical design at a systems level; integrating product modules designed by different disciplines - mechanical, electronics and software.
• Experience in design of motion systems; Mechanisms, motors, drive systems, bearings, rails, and mounting methods.
• Experience in design of fluid handling and pneumatic systems with consideration for materials compatibility.
• Experience of product development tools (e.g. FMEA, Risk assessment, Root cause analysis etc).
• Experience of provision of estimates (Labour/Materials) for projects/work packages.
• Excellent Communication skills, presenting highly complex ideas; anticipating potential objections and preparing cases accordingly whilst influencing at all levels of the organisation.
• Competent PC Skills & proficient in using software tools for creating and presenting complex data.
• Inkjet / digital printing knowledge would be advantageous with solid understanding of the fundamental operating principles of inkjet printheads and printers.