lead engineer

engineer

system engineer

product owner

project engineer

Jaguar Land Rover

TLDR; you'll get a very good salary once you're qualified, however this is to make up for the fact you will be a faceless number to management. You will be messed around - moved repeatedly to new areas with unfamiliar equipment and job roles/responsibilities, given little to no support, training or tools, whilst being pressured.

Starting as an apprentice you'll train at a college full time. The training received is not very relevant. Basic skills are taught but for the most part will not be used day to day at work. Steadily over time you'll be placed in plant somewhere to pick up the job. Be prepared to follow people around and generally be treated like a nuisance. The older guys see apprentices as a hazard, an extra burden that can 'land them in the S#÷T'. Younger guys that have done the apprenticeship themselves may understand what it was like and be willing to offer some guidance and relevant training. Training offered or organised by management? Non-existent. There will be no plan in place, you will be moved around various departments and blocks seemingly at random. There is no plan in place, so it's not malicious, however you will be moved at the exact moment you figure out the equipment, routine faults and how to fix them, and/or once the guys on shift have accepted you. 
Overtime and shift working is available to some apprentices but not others. It all depends on the attitude of the manager you're placed under. So be prepared to miss out on valuable learning opportunities as most planned maintenance is carried out on afternoon or night shifts. (This can hamper you later on in the apprenticeship as planned maintenance jobs need to be carried out and written up to complete the NVQ) Also, be prepared to potentially earn anywhere between 16-40% less than other apprentices that are on a shift rotation. 
Completing the apprenticeship can be fairly easy, if you get the one competent training manager of the four or five available. There are several, their turn over is extremely high and most are woefully useless. 
Otherwise be ready to be essentially directionless when filling our your NVQ paperwork. 
After 'coming out of your time' you'll be moved onto a permanent contract with a very good salary. But because you will have the least number of years service you will be ripe to be moved to another block at the drop of a hat. "Needs of the business" which typically translates to 'an older guy wants a nicer shift pattern/more money, so get out'. Back to square one - relearning new equipment, faults and adjusting to a new shift. 
A quick sidenote: if you are moved from one plant to another e.g. EMC to Solihull, you WILL NOT be issued a parking pass. Business protection hold a monopoly over them and if you don't know someone in the know, you will be parking in a car park potentially 25 minutes walk away from your work area. Nice. 

There are a few benefits to working at JLR, it's not all doom and gloom. 
There's a cycle to work scheme, an employee discount on new and used jaguars/land rovers and new fords. However with the chip shortage these discounts are no longer competitive. 
There is also an employee learning scheme. £200 a year is given towards learning a new skill unrelated to your job, or to put towards a list of hobbies, sports or experiences. But you'll have to use the antiquated computer system to try and use this fund, and it's a lucky dip whether you will have access to a computer, let alone a working log in. IT support is outsourced and is very poor. 
JLR provide you with workwear...when the company can afford it. A 6 month wait time is pretty average so keep your initially issued uniform in good repair. 
Management can vary from area to area, but generally they will focus on very small issues. 
Day to day you'll look after equipment whilst production are in. It can be repetitive, tedious and ultimately unrewarding. But the money is good. 
🤷‍♂️
Consider the business if you want a good salary after 'doing your time' but be prepared to be messed around and treated like garbage. 
If you're prepared to be fairly combative with supervisors and management from your first day, you might find you're moved around a little less. Intimidation works far better than towing the line and doing as your told it seems. 

As most of you know, the wages working here are quite lucrative....and it has to be in order to keep you on the hook of coming back everyday. This positivity ends there.

I have worked here for nearly a decade and I have had a great insight in to the ridiculous everyday dysfunction this place revels in.

Man management is disgusting, you are emotionally bullied into accepting to work jobs that are bodged to fit into the line speed. Ever heard of efficiencies? It doesn’t exist at JLR, it is an excuse to cut employees and force existing people on the line to take on more work, work that has already been ‘calculated’ to be as effective as possible in the allotted time. This isn’t efficient, it’s counter productive for quality.

So they change the tact time (allowed time of each process...ie...fit 1 bolt = 1.5 seconds.....after efficiency 1- fit 1 bolt = 1.2 seconds....6 months later efficiency 2-  fit the same bolt in 0.8 seconds) of individual processes constantly, overloading the work for the line workers.

Ever wondered why Land Rover has such poor quality, and high recalls? It’s because the management don’t value quality, they prefer to crunch the line workers for every ounce of sweat they can squeeze out....and then on a monthly basis complain to the production staff that quality isn’t good enough, and they wonder why the company’s sick rate is so high. The workers don’t care about the quality, they are too busy trying to survive the gruesome work conditions inflicted upon from the above. It’s not their fault. It’s RSI bonanza!

Poor management throughout is the reason why your new Land Rover is back at the dealership and garage for the 4th time in a year.

Back to the environment ....there is an underlying bullying culture that try to force you to work overtime and do jobs that not every individual is capable off. Several times over the years I have turned down overtime only to come back in on the Monday to be ‘punished’ by being moved out of my normal work area to do known tougher jobs or ridiculously mundane jobs. I was once punished for 5 weeks of working in a noisy cage to just stand there writing down VIN numbers (I was never told for what reason)....my crime? For daring to have family plans on a weekend, thanks for that supervisor.

They bully weaker employees constantly....I remember in my first 3 months as a fresh enthusiastic naive worker, an old fella returned after a while off after having a heart attack.....was then put on a tough job....could barely talk and was visibly upset.......the work of the same supervisor once again. I could go on about this all day....oh go on then...one more......my supervisor threw my jumper away into a bin, because I had the nerve to get too hot and I placed it next to where I work.

Want a career progression that rewards hard work? Don’t work here, best mates, ultra extreme brown nosing and family are your only routes to better yourself. If you have talent , take it elsewhere. 

You can work as much overtime (not me, I avoid like the plague) as you like on repairs if you are mates with the right people....sorry, did I say work...how silly of me...I mean sit around for 8-12 hours on x1.5/x2 pay watching YouTube and sleeping in cars (yes this really does happen, workers nurse their hangovers by sleeping in cars they make for you)

I could go on and on, literally could write a book (probably not a very good one) but this will do for now.

Errrr.....avoid this place.

this is a fast paced environment, with a focus on getting the numbers out rather than a focus on quality, although they like to mention quality all the time nothing is done in a timely manner to fix issues

management are only interested in numbers and their own progression rather than the workload and worker relationships, it is almost like a boys club especially as you dig deeper and find out that someone is so and so' nephew or someone is from their local club and in cushy positions with periodical job justification exercises that serve no purpose to the build or quality... you have tier upon tier of managers why have 1 when you can have 3 for each department

others are out of their depth and rely on supervisors to help out.. that's not delegation, that progressing off the backs of others especially when you see what happens when the supervisors refuse to help

the jlr culture isn't one that is geared towards keeping those that are good at their job but those that have been there the longest... poo at your job but been there long enough, keep your job... others are trying to milk the system and others walking around with canes during work but dancing at the bar on the weekends

the absence procedure has changed but served no purpose to bring those people back to work, rather than to punish anyone new falling ill 

the hardest part of the job is not to be human and make a mistake because they come down hard on you whilst you notice for weeks and months on end that management and engineering won't fix known issues... not part of your job, not your problem, let it go!

there is a union but don't bother, all they do is print out some A4 flyers and leave them in the canteen areas repeating anything that you have already heard... you find out from leaks rather than transparent management communication
the union won't bring fair pay or allow their members to vote on pay deals if you aren't a jlr employee, imagine how all the agency lot felt when they found that out

everyone votes for one thing and you never find someone that says yeah i voted to have the dangled carrot and shaft you lot, but somehow everyone gets shafted

Currently I Inspect vehicles for paint defects but have previously done the following roles;
Vehicle production
Group Leader
Current Manufacturing Engineering
Incoming Supplier Parts Quality
Driving
Vehicle Inspection
In general, there are many benefits given when working within JLR.

A typical working day:
At present is checking vehicles for paint defects and damage.

I have learned how to;
Build the Defender models, 
Work with Engineering processes [in particular warranty concerns], 
Resolve warranty claims and prevent further occurrences,
Manage work-groups and work with senior management,  
Work with multiple stakeholders internally and externally to JLR to aid in resolving quality issues as a result of supplier discrepancies in order to prevent further occurrences,
Drive the vehicles produced in a safe manner and inspect for potential faults,
Check for quality of paintwork prior to dispatching vehicles for the customer.

Management:
Are under a lot of pressure and this sometimes shows particularly when new processes/methods are introduced.
Communication needs improving but employees do receive a lot of information... sometimes too much.
Decisions made can often get misunderstood largely due to mis-communication.
Ensures training is given for each role.
Help is given, If there are problems personally/professionally.

Workplace culture:
Everyone wants to do the job to the best of their ability and the methods are varied in delivering this outcome.
The nature of this industry means that adaptation is needed frequently to meet customer/company demands.
One thing I have been particularly impressed with is that this company does not appear to have a sacking culture... if there are problems personally/professionally, help is given.

Hardest part of the job:
Frequently changing shift patterns make it difficult to settle into any routine  in particular sleep pattern.

Most enjoyable part of the Job:
I enjoy working for JLR but do not enjoy my present role.
That said, the people around me have a good working relationship which helps.

The management style is poor and unprofessional. The graduate scheme itself is essentially not a scheme at all, you enter at the same level as a contractor but get given no additional training or benefits. Do not apply if you are set on obtaining CIPS, it is only offered to a select number of graduates. This was promised to a number of graduates but has not been delivered as graduates are given no preference. The company has grown very quickly and the processes have not kept up or don't exist which leaves the purchasing department as more of an administration role than a strategic one, where 90% of time is spent dealing with internal discussions. Whilst the company has ridden of the growth of rising economies up until now, it has no standard base for sales and it's growth is unsustainable. The working environment reflects it's rover days and it hasn't caught up with a professional and collaborative culture like most big companies. The business is very hierarchical and there is a culture of requiring to 'earn your stripes', where number of years is put ahead of intellect, ability and skill which has left an uninspiring, autocratic and grossly inefficient management team.
Advice to Management
The graduates in purchasing are widely under utilised. Given the speed at which the company has been growing, little care and attention has been paid to the long term development of graduates. Instead they are used as a headcount and a driver for short term tasks. The main reason behind the low retention rate of the grad scheme lies in the companies inability to maximise the potential in its graduates. HR is also a hindrance to this, acting as a policeman and blocker of potential positive moves and unlike any other large graduate scheme, the graduates are not given separate head count or HR allocation

Working for the 'site services' department was a strange experience. I  and one other were brought in to cover sick leave/long terms health issues affecting ability to work. From the start the team leader didn't really seem to know what to do with us. 

Sent out around the plant to assist the employee with health issues, the main order of the day was to avoid doing any work where possible while making yourself look busy so as not to attract attention. To this end many places to be out of sight had been identified and were in regular use. There were frequently times when the perception was that I was more or less the only person in the department actually working at working, instead of working at skiving.

Despite a frequent need for parts and materials, there was no effective way of procuring these. We waited 6-8 weeks to be supplied with such simple items as toilet seats. The tools supplied for small jobs were old and/or poor quality - I would throw them away were they mine. 

More widely in the department it was common practice not to do jobs on week days so that they could be put off until the weekend to be undertaken as overtime. Much lip service was paid to issues such as health and safety but more in the sense of ticking the boxes than in a genuine belief and often used as a way of dodging work. i.e. we cant do that as its not safe, which was not necessarily the case and could often be made safe by appropriate working practice. 

In short there was a lot of skiving and presentee-ism and people doing the minimum possible to protect their position and their usually very generous pensions.

Buzzer goes off and you're supposed to be on the job 5 minutes beforehand. Buzzer goes off and you can have a 15min break and then you're back on the grind.

Imagine a prison movie and you'll get the idea. 
Management and group leaders are the guards and some are a tad bit more bitter that others. Others are just plain garbage, good if you want to get away with breaking the rules but not if you need something sorting out. 

You'll learn to do your job and you'll do that day in, day out, morning, afternoons and nights on shift. There's no progression so expect to be doing the same roll for sometime before someone finds it easier to do and you get bumped off.

Cover men are useless and you'll soon learn the grifters from the grafters, the former tends to be the rule rather than the exception.

They've tightened the rules on time off and reduced the pay to stop you trying to exploit the system, all this does is create a massive imbalance with those on the older contracts able to have time off without loss of pay.

Pay, is 30% - 20% less than someone with a pre 2022 contract, after that you lose £9000 per year doing the same job as them, so after 3-4 years you've lost a whole year of pay, but you'll find you are expected to put in more than 100% effort because of time in service results in you ending up on the harder jobs others won't take or do because they are hard.

Pay is now monthly but the system they use is so obtuse it's hard to work out exactly what you're paid and if there's any error. 


High levels of workload on management.
Unbalanced personnel/resources across teams and departments.
Increase in micromanagement.
The behaviours from senior leadership are very poor. Specifically, not empowering business leaders, very inconsistent and frequently changing product strategy, terrible adherence to programme governance.
Heavy push now for Agile in the business, already chaotic in deployment - will be a huge challenge to the senior leadership team (accustomed to command approach leadership) to accommodate servant-leadership culture required for successful Agile.  Agile will also be a significant challenge from a resource point of view (Agile demands unwavering focus from participants - we currently have dozens of plates that are being spun simultaneously).
Still many highly competent and skilled individuals found across all grades - enjoyable enough working with these knowledgeable colleagues.
Products are good, attempts are being made to address product quality but it’s far too reactive - not enough focus and resource being applied to prevent recurrence.
Overall, the business has treated employees very well wrt Covid and working from home, at least in my experience.

Project management involves interface between two key functional groups in powertrain (base engines and special vehicle ops). Involved with identification of major issues with SVO vehicle designs. Follow up with ESP's, suppliers and all functional groups to work though any issues.
Work closely with specific vehicle project engineers on program requirements and major issues in support of project plans and timing.
This involves occasionally reviewing designs in CAD to understand 
options.

Progressing issues with timely responses can sometimes be difficult due to availability and conflicting views with respect to priorities.
Escalation through management involvement is the most effective way to keep things on track.

Hardest part of the job is understanding JLRs processes at a detail level due to complexity and conflicts.

Good teamwork and a friendly work environment. Long hours 40+ but recent work practise change for flexibility to improve work/life balance.

my typical day at work: I would go in nice an early do my pre- shift check on my counter balance & reach and tug then i would check to see if i need to top up air bags in the assembly area.

I learnt how the 5s work

1)Sort- Seperate the Essential from the now Essential objectives ensure essential items are safe and fully operations remove now esstential.

2)Set in Order - A place for everything and its place.
+ objectives- safe locations for equipment and materials.
+ ability to easily identify abnormal conditions.
+ easy to find things.

3)Shine - Maintaining The 5s standard
objective - Manually clean to check for abnormal conditions

4)Standardise - Maintaing & Improving objectives and ensure the 5s standard is maintained
+improve the 5s standard.
+make it easier.
+increase understanding.

5)Sustain - Cascade the know how to the whole org.
objective every employee to follow the rules and understand benefits and contrubute to the improvement.

I would follow management orders every time i would do my job.
I enjoyed working on my own aswell as a team.

There was no hard part of the job i can look back an say appart from the pressure i would approach the task by staying calm and dealing with the job in a proffesional maner, and not to panick.

I enjoyed working for a big company like jag every day was enjoyable for me.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Lead engineer 26 salaries reported	£55,469 per year
Engineer 48 salaries reported	£45,286 per year
System engineer 12 salaries reported	£49,000 per year
Product owner 13 salaries reported	£58,269 per year
Project engineer 7 salaries reported	£46,429 per year

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