Product Design Engineer

Elevation Recruitment Group are working exclusively with a South Yorkshire engineering business, specialising in bespoke, high quality manufacturing solutions and tooling.

This is a key technical position where these activities are not incidental, but central to how product decisions are made and justified through to production. The focus will be around competitor benchmarking, market research, and product evaluation with a wider design engineer role still being present. 

This is a key role within a growing Product Team, responsible for taking ownership of product design from early concept through to production release. You will act as the technical authority for assigned product lines, translating structured market insight, competitor analysis, and customer requirements into robust, manufacturable, and commercially sound designs.

The role combines hands-on engineering with cross-functional collaboration and carries real influence over product performance, cost, quality, and compliance. If you enjoy seeing your design decisions directly shape products in the market, this will be a strong fit.

Product Engineer Key Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end technical design of products from concept through to production release
• Lead structured competitor benchmarking and market research activities, translating findings into clear design requirements and product decisions (e.g. specification changes, feature prioritisation, cost optimisation or design direction shifts)
• Carry out product evaluation and performance comparison against competitor and legacy products, using findings to drive iterative improvements and inform design strategy
• Produce and approve engineering drawings, 3D CAD models, laser marking drawings, and full technical specifications
• Define and control design intent, including tolerances, materials, finishes, and critical performance characteristics to ensure manufacturability and compliance
• Lead prototype builds, testing, validation, and iterative design refinement, ensuring feedback loops are captured and implemented effectively
• Provide technical leadership and structured problem-solving, including root cause analysis and corrective design action
• Collaborate closely with marketing, sales, suppliers, supply chain, and quality teams to balance customer requirements, cost, performance, and delivery
• Review and enhance existing products, using benchmarking and field/product data to identify opportunities for cost reduction, standardisation, and performance improvement
• Maintain accurate CAD models and technical documentation with strict version control
• Lead and contribute to design reviews, including DFM, DFA, and tooling reviews, ensuring design intent is maintained through to manufacture
• Support quality teams by defining inspection criteria, tolerances, and test requirements aligned to product performance expectations
• Feed market trends, competitor insights, materials, and manufacturing process developments into product roadmap discussions
• Contribute to continuous improvement of design processes, tools, and engineering standards
• Occasional international travel to suppliers and manufacturing partners
• Ensure all work complies with internal procedures, health & safety, and relevant regulatory standards

Required Criteria

• Degree (or equivalent) in Product Design Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or similar

• Strong 2D CAD experience 

• Experience with rendering tools such as Visualise or KeyShot

• Ability to produce full manufacturing documentation

• Solid understanding of injection moulding, machining or castings 

• Strong grasp of engineering standards, tolerances and design for manufacture

• Demonstrable experience taking products from concept into production

• Confident communicator, able to influence across departments

• Working knowledge of GD&T

For more information, please contact Steve Barnett or Jack Heffren.