Senior Product Design Engineer (Mechanical)
Full Time 37.5 hours per week – Flexible Start/Finish times – core hours Mon-Thurs 0800-1600hrs, Friday 0900-1230hrs
Salary Negotiable – up to £50k (depending on experience)
Contributory Pension
Location – Birmingham (B30 3AG)
About the Company
Instinct Hardware is an established and highly respected manufacturer of innovative hardware solutions, supplying customers across the UK and internationally. Committed to quality, innovation and continuous product development, investing in new ideas and engineering excellence to maintain our market-leading position.
Due to continued growth and product development, an exciting opportunity has arisen for a Senior Product Design Engineer experienced in CAD Design with initiative, strong communication skills and the ability to manage special project design work from enquiry through to completion.
The Role
This is a varied and rewarding position offering the opportunity to work across the full product development lifecycle, from concept design through to manufacture. The role will also support the development of new product ranges and design concepts.
The successful candidate will have strong mechanical and manufacturing design knowledge, the ability to proactively manage an end-to-end design process, and the confidence to take ownership of projects from initial enquiry through to production.
Key responsibilities include:
- Proactively oversee development of bespoke product enquiries from initial customer information, providing quality design outputs in the form of:
o Simple product line drawings for customer review and approval.
o Overview renders to help sell the concept.
o A full suite of manufacturing information for designs, including component drawings, assembly drawings, BOMs, dxf file exports etc.
- Manage and action design update requests from the production team.
- Communicate with management when key tasks and design stages are complete to keep project momentum.
- Maintain design file structure within the Vault, filing data neatly with correct part numbers and descriptions and managing revisions and lifecycle states. Additionally understanding the difference in systems for bespoke designs compared to long-term standard product offerings.
- Gain on the job knowledge of relevant hardware industry standards to ensure designs are market compliant and to the best possible quality.
- Ensure the technical administration team has all the information required to load BOM data from the design system into order processing and inventory systems.
- When necessary, present progress on design projects, clearly communicating concept ideas and updates.
- Highlight product cost inefficiencies and value analyse applicable designs.
- Work closely with cross-functional teams, including production, quality, marketing, and sales, to ensure that the product design meets the business goals and customer needs.
- Be present & professional during project reviews with customers where necessary.
About You
We're looking for an enthusiastic and commercially aware Design Engineer who enjoys solving problems and developing practical engineering solutions.
Required Knowledge and Experience
- Extensive use and experience with 3D CAD packages, ideally Autodesk Inventor.
- Experience working within a controlled data management system (Autodesk Vault or Solidworks PDM) to effectively manage document versions, revisions, and lifecycles.
- Experience generating product renders with the knowledge to setup for fast indicative visuals or detailed, more photorealistic images.
- Knowledge of metals and machining principles is key to design for typical products, supplementary knowledge of casting, moulding, sheet metal, pressing and extrusion is also beneficial.
- Understanding of clearance, tolerancing and design for assembled products.
- A high degree of technical knowledge balanced with creative ability and a hands-on approach.
- General commercial awareness.
- Ideally, industry knowledge of products, and standards – or the ability to pick these up quickly while on the job.
- The ability to cope with the pressure of deadlines.
- Determination to achieve project completion, showing optimism and enthusiasm when things don't go to plan.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills to work effectively with Commercial and Production teams.
- Detail-oriented and capable of managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
What's on Offer
- Competitive salary dependent upon experience.
- Opportunity to work on innovative product development projects.
- Stable and growing business.
- Supportive engineering environment.
- Long-term career development opportunities.
If you feel this role looks right for you and you want to join our team, it’s time to get your application started. Please apply through this advert to our HR Consultant, with an up to date CV and covering letter stating why you feel you are suitable for the role, also detailing your desired working hours and salary requirements.
Please do find out more about us at www.instincthardware.co.uk
Deadline for applications: Monday 27th July 2026
NO AGENCIES PLEASE
Pay: Up to £50,000.00 per year
Application question(s):
- Do you have commercial experience designing mechanical products from concept through to manufacture within a manufacturing environment?
Work Location: In person
