Junior Mechanical Engineer

Most jobs aren't this one

We need a hands on mechanical engineer with proven practical capabilities

Futura Trailers is a New Zealand manufacturer of best-in-class aluminium trailers, sold across New Zealand, Australia and the USA. We run a Lean operation — continuous improvement, visible standards, real ownership. AI tools are part of how we work every day. We have a twice-weekly all-team Lean meeting that is a working meeting, not a status update.

This is a brand new role. The role will be responsible for monitoring and improving quality all the way from the supplier to the production line

What you'll actually do

Assess and rectify mechanical quality issues.

Liaise with suppliers on improvements (drawings, machining changes etc.).

New plant design and machinery layouts.

Lean tool deployment, focusing on quality.

Contribute to and hosting our team Lean meetings. Twice a week. You bring improvements, you bring waste you've spotted, you bring fixes. You do not attend as an observer.

The 12-month success picture

• Measured and confirmed reduction in rework hours on our production lines

• Directly contribute toward a sustained lift in units produced each month through improved process and product.

• Seeing quality issue solutions through to resolution and implementation.

Who this is for

You are probably:

• A graduate or early-career professional in mechanical engineering, or a similar discipline.

• Comfortable with AI tools and curious about where they're going

• Happy to spend your day on the floor, not behind a desk

• Detail-oriented without being rigid

What we are looking for:

• Skilled in mechanical design and drafting, ideally with Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing experience.
• Knowledge of quality systems and root cause analysis.
• Some knowledge of lean engineering.

What we offer

• Full-time employment contract. Regular working hours inline with a manufacturing environment.

• 30 minutes of protected improvement time every day — not when there's spare time, every day, in the schedule

• Training in our Lean systems, our software, and our AI toolkit

• A factory full of people who think like process engineers

• A boss and a leadership team who back their people

How to apply

Our recruitment process has three stages. It's designed to be fair to you and to us — this needs to be the right fit for the business and the team.

Stage 1 — Send us a 2-minute video by WhatsApp.

Tell us:

• Why you want to work at Futura
• A bit about yourself
• Why you'd be a good fit

Send it to our recruitment WhatsApp number: [021 183 5652](tel:021 183 5652) or [email protected]

Don't polish it. We're not judging production quality. We can tell a lot from two minutes of you talking to a camera — more than we can from a CV we didn't have time to read properly.

If the idea of recording a two-minute video puts you off, this probably isn't the right place for you — and that's fair.

Stage 2 — Interview and attend one of our Lean meetings.

If we see the fit in your video, we'll invite you to one of our twice-weekly Lean meetings. You'll meet the team and see how we actually work. It's the best way for you to know if you'd thrive here — and for us to see how you interact in our environment.

Some people walk out of that meeting knowing it's not for them. That's a good outcome. Better to know now.

Stage 3 — A trial day.

If stage 2 goes well, you'll come in for a full day (paid at an agreed rate) and work in the environment you'd be joining. Real tasks, real team.

The team decides.

The people you worked with on your trial day give their feedback toward the final call. The logic is simple: if you get the job, the team around you owns your success — so they should own the decision.

Before you apply — watch the video

Our Engineering Manager Sam walks you through the Futura factory and a glimpse of our twice-weekly Lean meeting. Watch it before you apply.

---

Applications close when we find the right person. Don't wait.