Manufacturing Engineer

Manufacturing Engineer

12 Month Fixed-Term Contract
Southampton, Hampshire
£45,000 – £50,000

An established high-tech manufacturing business based in Southampton is seeking a Manufacturing Engineer to join their Operations Engineering team on a 12-month fixed-term contract.

The company designs and manufactures advanced laser technology used across a wide range of industrial applications worldwide. With new products being introduced at pace, this role will play a key part in supporting manufacturing capability, improving processes and ensuring successful product introduction into production.

This is a hands-on engineering role, working closely with production, engineering and NPI teams to optimise manufacturing processes, drive continuous improvement and support operational performance.

The role is approximately 50% cleanroom based, so experience or comfort working within controlled environments would be beneficial.

The Role

You will be responsible for delivering improvements across manufacturing processes, supporting operational teams and ensuring efficient and safe manufacturing practices.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Providing manufacturing engineering support to production and operations teams
• Driving continuous improvement activities focusing on quality, cost, and cycle time reduction
• Implementing lean manufacturing techniques and structured problem solving methods
• Designing and improving manufacturing cell layouts and production flow
• Creating and maintaining Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and manufacturing documentation
• Supporting the introduction of new technologies and product lines into production
• Analysing manufacturing data to identify improvement opportunities
• Supporting NPI teams to ensure designs are manufacturable and production-ready
• Leading improvement initiatives across manufacturing cells
• Conducting risk assessments for new equipment, processes and procedures
• Investigating and resolving manufacturing non-conformances

Experience Required

Essential:

• 3–5 years’ experience within a Manufacturing Engineering role
• Experience with lean manufacturing tools such as value stream mapping and structured problem solving (A3, 8D, DMAIC)
• Experience analysing manufacturing data and identifying improvement opportunities
• Experience creating work instructions, SOPs or standard work documentation
• Strong Excel and general IT skills
• Good understanding of health & safety within manufacturing environments
• Experience implementing 5S

Desirable:

• Experience working in a cleanroom or controlled environment
• Fine mechanical or precision assembly experience
• Six Sigma Green Belt
• Knowledge of OEE, capacity planning or takt-based production flow
• Experience with TPM or Gage R&R
• Optical fibre handling or fusion/splicing experience
• Basic SQL knowledge

Qualifications

• Degree qualified in an engineering discipline, or equivalent experience.

Personal Profile

• Highly organised with strong attention to detail
• Proactive and naturally curious, always looking for ways to improve processes
• Strong structured problem-solving ability
• Comfortable working in a fast-moving manufacturing environment
• Able to communicate effectively across engineering, operations and production teams
• Adaptable and able to manage multiple priorities