Design Manufacturing Engineer

Manufacturing Design Engineer

SolidWorks | Stillages | Automation | AI | Advanced Manufacturing

£30,000–£50,000 depending on capability Bramshall, Uttoxeter | Permanent | Full-Time

Work Location: In person

Don’t come here just to draw. Come here to change how we engineer.

We’re building a different kind of Design Office at  Lowe Stillages & Cages . One where engineers don’t spend their careers repeating the same CAD work. One where  SolidWorks, automation, parametric design, manufacturing data and AI  are used to make engineering faster, smarter and more powerful. And we’re looking for an ambitious Manufacturing Design Engineer who wants to help build it.

What are we building?

Lowe designs and manufactures engineered stillages, transport frames, trolleys and material-handling systems for demanding industrial applications.

We’re growing our manufacturing capability and pushing much further into technically demanding engineered products.

But we’re not interested in simply adding more people and doing things the same way. We’re changing the way engineering works.

Reusable engineering. Parametric design. DriveWorks. Design automation. AI. Manufacturing feedback. FEA. Engineering data. Design for Manufacture.

The objective is simple: Engineer better products — in less time. That’s where you come in.

Your job

You’ll design real products that get built metres away from you. Not theoretical projects. Not endless CAD exercises.

Real fabricated steel structures. Real loads. Real manufacturing problems. Real customers.

You’ll design:

• Stillages
• Transport frames
• Material-handling systems
• Trolleys
• Dunnage systems
• Fabricated steel structures
• Bespoke engineered handling solutions using  SolidWorks, including Weldments and assemblies .

But producing drawings is only part of the job. We want you looking at the entire engineering process and asking:

Why are we doing this manually?

Why are we designing this again?

Could this become parametric?

Could DriveWorks generate this?

Could AI remove this repetitive work?

Can we take hours out of the fabrication?

Can we make this impossible to manufacture incorrectly?

If you can demonstrate a better way, we want to use it. You’ll get involved in engineering that matters.

You’ll develop your knowledge of:

• Structural load paths
• Stability
• Centre of gravity
• Payload restraint
• Dynamic loads
• Welded structures
• Deflection
• Material selection
• Forklift interfaces
• Stacking
• Lifting and handling
• Proof/load testing
• FEA
• Design for Manufacture
• Engineering risk
• Technical documentation

You’ll see your designs move directly from  SolidWorks onto the factory floor . And you’ll see very quickly whether you’ve engineered them well. That feedback loop is incredibly powerful. Then we want you to automate it. We’re developing our use of:

DriveWorks

SolidWorks automation

Parametric master models

Configurations and Design Tables

Macros and APIs

Automated drawings and BOMs

AI-assisted engineering

Engineering data and performance analysis

You don’t need to arrive knowing all of them. But you absolutely need to want to.

If you’re fascinated by what technology is going to do to mechanical engineering over the next five years, you’ll understand why we’re investing in this.

This isn’t an engineering job where change takes three years. You’ll work directly with the people making the decisions.

See something that doesn’t work? Challenge it.

Develop something better? Test it.

Prove it works? We’ll implement it. Then we’ll make it the new standard.

We want engineers who want to  build systems, not just work inside them. The factory is part of your engineering environment.

You’ll work closely with experienced fabricators and production.

If something takes twelve hours to fabricate when it should take eight, we want to know why.

Was it:

• the design?
• the joint?
• the tolerance?
• the material?
• the sequence?
• the fixture?
• the drawing?
• unnecessary complexity?

Then engineer the problem out. You’ll be able to see the commercial impact of your engineering decisions. That’s how good engineers become exceptional manufacturing engineers.

Who we’re looking for

You’ll already be a capable Mechanical or Manufacturing Design Engineer with strong  SolidWorks  skills.

Ideally you’ll have experience with:

• Stillages
• Transport frames
• Returnable packaging
• Automotive dunnage
• Material handling
• Special-purpose machinery
• Lifting equipment
• Fabricated steel products

Direct  stillage or closely related material-handling experience is particularly valuable .

You should understand welded fabrication and be capable of producing proper manufacturing-ready designs — not simply attractive CAD models.

We’re interested in what you can do, how you think and how quickly you can develop.

You’ll probably enjoy this job if…

You open SolidWorks and immediately see three ways something could be improved.

Repetitive engineering annoys you. Automation interests you. AI interests you. You want to understand FEA properly. You like manufacturing as much as CAD. You enjoy solving difficult mechanical problems. You want responsibility earlier in your career. You are always looking for better more efficient methods of working (We love that) And you don’t want to spend the next five years doing the same engineering work you did last year.

Where could this take you?

This isn’t being recruited as a static position. We’re building technical capability around:

Engineering → Automation → Manufacturing → Data → AI

As the business grows, we want people who join us now to grow with it. For the right engineer, this position can develop towards: Senior Engineer / Lead Engineer / Design Automation Lead / Technical Engineering leadership

You won’t have to wait for somebody to retire before you’re allowed to progress. Your progression will be driven by the capability and impact you demonstrate.

What you’ll get

• £30,000–£50,000 depending on experience, capability and Vision
• Monday–Thursday: 08:30–16:30
• Friday: 08:30–13:30
• 25 days’ holiday plus statutory holidays, plus extra holidays for time scale served
• Company pension
• Free parking
• Direct access to senior decision-makers
• Significant engineering autonomy
• Exposure to SolidWorks automation and DriveWorks
• Opportunity to develop advanced FEA capability
• Opportunity to work with AI and emerging engineering technology
• Real influence over how the Design Office develops
• Clear opportunity for technical progression

The position is based at our manufacturing site in  Bramshall, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire ST14 8TD .

You will need to live within practical travelling distance and have your own transport. Relocation is not currently available.

Think you could make our Design Office better? Good. That’s exactly who we’re looking for.

Don’t worry if you don’t tick every box.

If you’re a strong SolidWorks engineer with fabricated-steel experience, understand how things are actually made and are excited by  automation, AI and the future of engineering , we want to hear from you.

Shortlisted candidates won’t just be asked conventional interview questions. We’ll talk engineering.

We’ll give you real problems. We’ll want to hear what  you would change . Because we’re not recruiting someone simply to fill a seat in the Design Office. We’re recruiting someone to help build the Design Office we’re becoming.