A growing technology business is seeking an experienced Mechanical Design Engineer on full-time permanent basis in the West Midlands to lead the design of complex mechanical systems for unmanned platforms already in operational use.

This is a senior technical leadership role, offering responsibility for mechanical architecture, design approval and production release within a fast-paced, multidisciplinary engineering environment. The successful candidate will influence product direction, mentor engineers and work directly with manufacturing, assembly and quality teams to deliver reliable, production-ready designs.

What you can expect:

• Senior technical leadership opportunity within a growing UK defence technology business
• West Midlands on-site working
• Highly competitive salary and share options vesting over three years
• Bupa private medical insurance
• 6% employer pension contribution
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
• Enterprise-level AI tooling
• Relocation support or home office budget
• Opportunity to progress into technical authority across multiple systems or programmes at Principal level
  

What you will be doing:

• Lead the mechanical design of major subsystems and complex engineering work packages, from initial concept and architecture through to production release and in-service support
• Define mechanical architectures, interfaces and design approaches, making technical decisions that balance performance, manufacturability, cost and reliability
• Review and approve CAD models, engineering drawings and analysis, ensuring tolerancing, material selection and design for manufacture and assembly (DFM/DFA) requirements are met
• Lead design reviews, technical risk assessments and verification activities, including test and qualification strategies
• Investigate complex engineering and integration challenges, working closely with manufacturing, assembly and quality teams to resolve issues
• Coordinate with software, electronics, systems and other engineering disciplines to ensure effective integration at system level
• Provide technical leadership, mentoring and day-to-day guidance to engineers across the team
• Establish and improve engineering standards, processes and tools as the business continues to grow
• At Principal level, provide technical authority across multiple systems or programmes and contribute to future product development
• Work closely with production teams to ensure approved designs can be manufactured, assembled and delivered at pace
  

What we are looking for:

• Degree in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related discipline, or equivalent professional experience
• Extensive mechanical design experience, including ownership of components, assemblies or subsystems from concept through to production release
• Proven experience leading design reviews and making technical decisions that inform the work of other engineers
• Strong practical knowledge of tolerancing, materials selection and manufacturing processes, with experience applying these to production-ready designs
• Proficiency in SolidWorks or a comparable parametric CAD package
• Knowledge of Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) in accordance with BS 8888
• Eligibility for UK Security Check (SC) clearance, requiring UK citizenship or at least five years of continuous UK residency as specified in the vacancy
• Ability to work on-site for the majority of the working week
  

Desirable experience:

• Background in aerospace, defence, automotive or another high-reliability engineering environment
• Experience with Finite Element Analysis (FEA) or other engineering simulation methods
• Experience defining verification, testing and qualification approaches
• Experience acting as a technical authority across multiple systems or programmes
• Experience representing engineering in technical discussions with customers and suppliers
• Experience developing engineering standards and mentoring technical teams