Design Manager
Meet Our Recruiter
About Profile
An accomplished Engineering Design Manager with extensive experience leading mechanical design teams in capital equipment and machinery manufacturing for the Food/FMCG Industry. Blending strong technical capability with effective people leadership, this individual consistently introduces structure and robust engineering practices to grow design capability and improve delivery performance.
Highly skilled in improving design processes, coaching engineering talent, and ensuring practical, buildable design solutions across complex fabricated machinery and engineered systems.
Key Strengths
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Engineering & Design Leadership: Successful track record of leading and growing design teams, establishing clear roles, responsibilities, and processes. Effective at setting direction and coaching engineers to deliver high-quality design outcomes.
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Process Improvement & Standards Development – Introduces design standards, structured review processes and best practices that improve throughput, consistency, and engineering efficiency.
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Hands-On Technical Expertise: Maintains technical involvement when needed, supporting design reviews, resolving technical challenges, and ensuring designs are fit for manufacture and assembly.
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Continuous Improvement Mindset: Demonstrates a proactive approach to enhancing CAD systems, engineering workflows, and tools to support better engineering outcomes and team productivity.
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Project Delivery & Accountability: Experience managing design projects end-to-end, balancing quality, delivery timelines and team capability development.
Experience & Impact
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Led small design teams in capital equipment and complex machinery environments, improving consistency and delivery reliability.
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Developed and implemented robust design standards and review frameworks, reducing rework and variation between projects.
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Improved engineering throughput by introducing structured design processes and practical, buildable design practices.
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Played a key role in CAD and system improvements, driving more effective use of engineering tools and workflows across teams.
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Actively supported problem-solving through manufacturing and assembly phases to ensure designs deliver on production requirements.
Software & Tools: SolidWorks, Autodesk Inventor, CAD Data Management
Ideal Opportunity
Open to a fresh technical and leadership challenge where they can make a meaningful impact on product development performance, team structure and delivery excellence. Particularly suited to capital equipment or engineered systems businesses seeking strong engineering leadership paired with practical hands-on design capability.