Senior Mechanical Design Engineer

Senior Mechanical Design Engineer

Location: Bristol

The Company

Our client is a well-established manufacturer of automated packaging and special purpose machinery, supplying innovative equipment to customers across the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and FMCG sectors worldwide. Due to continued growth and investment, they are looking to appoint a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer to join their engineering team.

The Role

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Mechanical Design Engineer with a background in special purpose machinery, packaging equipment, automation, or conveyor-based systems.

Working within a multi-disciplinary engineering team, you will take ownership of complex machine and system designs from concept through to manufacture, assembly, and customer delivery. You will play a key role in developing bespoke automated machinery and improving existing product platforms for international customers.

Key Responsibilities

Design and develop mechanical systems for automated machinery
Produce detailed 3D CAD models, assemblies, and manufacturing drawings using SolidWorks
Design conveyor systems, drive arrangements, guarding, and machine frameworks
Work closely with electrical, controls, manufacturing, and project engineering teams
Support machine build, factory testing, and installation activities where required
Perform design calculations and component selection for motors, gearboxes, bearings, and pneumatic systems
Ensure machinery complies with CE standards and machine safety requirements
Contribute to continuous improvement and new product development projects
Mentor junior engineers and provide technical guidance across projects

Requirements

Proven experience in mechanical design of special purpose machinery or automated equipment
Background within packaging, material handling, automation, FMCG, food processing, or similar machinery sectors
Strong 3D CAD experience using SolidWorks
Good understanding of conveyors, gearboxes, drive systems, pneumatics, and machine automation
Familiarity with industry suppliers for conveyors, gearboxes, motors, bearings, pneumatics, and automation components
Experience designing fabricated machinery and moving mechanical assemblies
Understanding of manufacturing processes and design for assembly/manufacture
Knowledge of machine safety and CE compliance
Only candidates based in UK and eligible to work in UK are allowed