ReFactory is the in-house design-and-make function of MyGroup, a Yorkshire waste-management and recycling group that has spent 35 years keeping material out of landfill. Across its sites it recovers just about everything — ocean plastic, beauty and clinical packaging, scrap timber and metal — and ReFactory is the part that closes the loop, turning that recovered waste into new materials and products. Where capability and creativity meet, even ‘unrecyclable’ material becomes something new.
No two projects are the same — different waste turns up every day, and a lot of the craft is taking it apart and working out what it could become. We've delivered bespoke products and installations for some of the UK's best-known brands, all from material they'd otherwise have thrown away. We care about two things equally: doing right by the planet, and making designer products and builds that people actually want.
THE ROLE
We want a multi-skilled joiner / furniture maker who can take a piece the whole way — from first prototype, through refining the build, to the short runs that have to match it exactly, to fitting the finished thing on site. Most days you’re at the bench, building furniture and fittings from reclaimed and recycled material. Some days you’re out installing a feature piece. The design team will hand you things that have never been made before and trust you to work out how — to time, to budget, and to a standard you’d put your name to. You’ll work closely with them, and you get how that relationship works.
- Build bespoke furniture and installations from reclaimed and recycled material
- Work with the design team to turn rough ideas — and the odd impossible request — into finished pieces
- Run one-offs and short batch runs, each one as good as the last
- Operate and maintain the workshop machinery and tools, safely
- Keep quality high and waste low, to time and to budget
- Install finished pieces on site when the job calls for it — you built it, so you take the care to fit it right
- Health and safety is non-negotiable — we work to the rules and regulations every day, and we look out for each other.
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR
ESSENTIAL
- Proven experience as a joiner, carpenter or furniture maker
- Strong knowledge of woodworking techniques, tools and machinery — and open to working metal, plastics and whatever else turns up
- Comfortable developing a rough concept on the floor and working to a precise drawing — both take a maker who can communicate and adapt
- A creative, problem-solving head, a real eye for detail, and the pride of a maker who cares
- A portfolio or photos of your work — we don’t hire anyone who can’t show us what they’ve made
- Full UK manual driving licence — you’ll occasionally drive between sites and to jobs
- Your own transport (the workshop isn’t on a public transport route)
- You take pride in doing things right, and in doing right by the planet
DESIRABLE
- Experience working with reclaimed or recycled materials
- A hand in R&D — developing pieces and methods from scratch
- Experience across other materials (metal, plastic, textiles)
- On-site installation experience
WHAT YOU’LL GET
- Genuinely varied work — one-off bespoke pieces, short runs and feature installations
- The satisfaction of giving waste a second life as furniture people genuinely want
- Room to grow across new materials, methods and techniques
- A permanent, full-time role with a workplace pension and 30 days’ holiday (rising with service)
- A small, multi-disciplinary team that takes the planet and the craft equally seriously
Pay: £14.00-£19.00 per hour
Benefits:
- Free parking
- On-site parking
Work Location: In person
