Job Overview
We are seeking a Process Engineer to join our Product Engineering team, supporting Consumables manufacturing. You will own the development, optimisation and control of manufacturing processes for coated consumable products, ensuring they are robust, capable and cost-effective in routine production within our clean room manufacturing environment.
The Product Engineering team is the technical bridge during product transfer: R&D and Manufacturing owns the handover end-to-end, and product engineering supports it, understanding the processes, yield and problem solving throughout. In this role you will support NPI industrialisation and design transfer for new coated consumable products, partnering with R&D as they are developed and transferred into production.
The successful candidate will bring expertise in chemical processing, surface engineering and coating technologies, with experience of manufacturing precision consumables used within the pharmaceutical, diagnostics, biotechnology or semiconductor industries.
This position is primarily based at our Botley (Oxford) site, with a minimum on-site requirement of four days per week. You will also be expected to travel occasionally to our Littlemore site as business needs require.
Responsibilities
NPI & Transfer support
- Work closely with R&D to develop and establish manufacturing-ready processes for new consumable products.
- Lead the technology transfer from R&D into Manufacturing
- Provide manufacturing input to R&D during process development, including Design for Manufacture feedback.
- Identify Critical Process Parameters (CPPs) and Critical Quality Attributes (CQAs).
- Support creation of work instructions and process specifications for transferred products.
- Support the creation of equipment maintenance documentation and preventative maintenance schedules.
Process Development & Improvement
- Develop and optimise robust manufacturing processes for coated consumables, including coating, surface preparation and chemical treatment, using structured methods such as Design of Experiments (DoE) to build process capability,
- Establish and Monitor KPI's to Drive yield improvement activities, increase throughput, reduce cost and improve product consistency across the coated consumables portfolio, prioritising the activities that make the biggest impact.
Manufacturing Support
- Resolve escalated production issues across the consumable portfolio
- Investigate yield loss and process variation, performing root cause analysis using structured problem-solving techniques.
Validation & Process Control
- Develop process validation protocols and support execution of IQ/OQ/PQ activities
- Define process control strategies and establish Statistical Process Control (SPC)
- Support FMEA (DFMEA & PFMEA), Control Plans and associated Risk Assessments.
Cross Functional Collaboration
Work closely with:
- Research & Development
- Manufacturing
- Quality
- Supply Chain
- Operations Leadership
- External suppliers (CMO's, Equipment) and technology partners
Essential Experience
- Degree in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Surface Science, Chemistry, Physics or a related engineering discipline.
- Significant experience in process engineering within a regulated manufacturing environment; clean room experience strongly preferred.
- Hands on experience with coating technologies and surface treatments.
- Proficiency in statistical analysis tools (eg. Minitab, JMP) and structured problem-solving methods (eg. DoE, 8D, FMEA)
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to manage multiple projects.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with R&D, Quality Assurance and Supply Chain.
Highly Desirable Experience
Experience in one or more of the following industries:
Pharmaceutical diagnostics, Life Sciences, Medical Devices, Biotechnology, Semiconductor Manufacturing, Microfabrication, or Analytical Instrumentation
Technical experience in:
- Functional coatings
- Chemical formulations
- Precision dispensing
- Plasma processing
- Wet chemistry
- Cleanroom manufacturing
- Optical inspection
- Surface characterisation techniques
Any experience in reagent or assay production and scale up can also be discussed and would be considered favourably.
Personal Attributes
- Highly analytical with excellent problem-solving skills.
- Comfortable working in a fast-paced technology environment.
- Hands-on approach to engineering challenges.
- Strong planning and organisational skills.
We know there is no such thing as the perfect candidate and that there is great value in transferrable skills, so please don't feel you have to tick all of the above boxes to apply!
Why work for Refeyn?
Compensation and core benefits
- We anticipate a salary between £43,000 and £54,000 for this role, depending on the candidate's experience.
- 25 days annual leave per year in addition to bank holidays
- Up to 7% employer matched pension contribution
- Private health insurance from day one plus critical illness cover, income protection and life insurance
- Give as You Earn and Cycle to Work salary sacrifice schemes.
Family Friendly Benefits
Refeyn offers the Enjoy Benefits Nursery Scheme to employees after 3 months, and new parents can benefit from up to 17 weeks fully paid maternity, adoption and shared parental leave, 4 weeks fully paid paternity leave, plus an annual allowance for emergency childcare.
Supporting your Development
All employees receive access to LinkedIn Learning which offers thousands of courses to support their personal and professional development. We also run frequent training sessions on both hard and soft skills.
Refeyn is proud to use anonymised hiring practices. Identifying information such as a candidate's name, email address, date of birth and photo will not be visible to the hiring manager when they review CVs.
