Manufacturing Engineer

Location: Based 5 days on-site at Sunswap’s Leatherhead HQ (KT22 7BA, UK)

Salary: up to £35,000 (dependent on experience)

About us:

Every refrigerated truck and trailer moving goods across the country has relied on diesel for decades. It's polluting, expensive, and the technology hasn't change. Two companies have dominated the market, selling the same legacy technology with minor updates.

Sunswap makes the electric refrigeration that's replacing it - zero emissions, lower operating costs, built from the ground up for how fleets actually operate. We've gone from founding to manufacturing at scale globally in just six years. We built our own production facility in Surrey. We are trusted by major brands like Tesco, Ocado, Birds Eye, and Happy Eggs every single day. With units operating across the UK, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Chile, and Australia.

We've been named Sunday Times Best Place to Work 2024 and 2025. We've won awards for innovation, technology, and marketing excellence. We've secured backing from BGF, Barclays, and Clean Growth Fund. We've got the customers, the traction, and the momentum.

Now we're taking this British-engineered product global. Scaling manufacturing. Opening new markets. Building the team that will make legacy polluting technology obsolete across the world.

If you want to be part of a company that's setting new standards for the industry and scaling internationally, this is it.

Our benefits

• 30 days of annual leave (includes a Wellbeing Day)
• Sabbatical (after 3 years of working with Sunswap)
• 5 free counselling sessions per year
• Family leave ranging from 4 weeks to 4 months
• Free Monthly Lunches & Quarterly Socials!
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Free Sunswap merchFree Sunswap merch

Job Overview

As a Manufacturing Engineer reporting to the Manufacturing Manager, you will play a key role in bridging product design and production to enable efficient, scalable, and cost-effective manufacturing of Sunswap TRUs.

Working closely with design, production, quality and supply chain teams, you will support the transition from prototype to full-scale production, helping to optimise processes, improve manufacturability and ensure robust, repeatable builds.

This is a hands-on role in a fast-scaling environment, where you will contribute to production line development, tooling and fixture design and continuous improvement initiatives as we ramp up manufacturing and expand globally.

Key responsibilities:

• Assist in refining product designs and processes to improve manufacturability and assembly.
• Support in the design and optimisation of production lines and processes under senior guidance.
• Develop, manage, and maintain technical documentation, including Manufacturing Bills of Materials (MBOM), PFMEA, control plans, and Work Instructions with oversight.
• Assist in updating and maintaining documentation for ongoing production and process improvements.
• Support PFMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) activities by identifying potential risks and contributing to the mitigation process under senior guidance.
• Collaborate with the team to help track risk mitigation actions.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including production, quality assurance, and supply chain, to integrate new designs into manufacturing processes.
• Assist in ensuring smooth transition from prototype to production in cooperation with the Production team.
• Utilise CAD software to assist in creating tooling and assembly fixtures in alignment with manufacturing capabilities.
• Collaborate with senior engineers in designing and refining tooling/fixtures for efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
• Assist in the assembly of prototype products, ensuring the design is functional and manufacturable.
• Troubleshoot and provide feedback on prototypes to improve manufacturability.

Qualifications & experience

• Degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, or related engineering discipline (or equivalent experience)
• 1–3 years’ experience in a manufacturing or production environment (placements/internships considered)
• Basic understanding of manufacturing and assembly processes
• Experience with CAD (e.g. SolidWorks or similar)
• Familiarity with BOMs, technical drawings, and work instructions
• Understanding of DfMA principles
• Exposure to PFMEA, control plans, or root cause analysis
• Strong problem-solving skills with a hands-on approach
• Ability to work cross-functionally in a fast-paced environment
• High attention to detail and good organisational skills