Current Opportunity:

CAD Design Department Lead

Salary:

Dependent on experience.

Location:

Hybrid working – minimum 3 days per week in our office in Chesham or at a client site. We prioritise collaboration and team time.

Introduction:

J P Hildreth Ltd is an award-winning engineering consultancy dedicated to delivering manufacturing excellence. We partner with global leaders in the food and pharmaceutical sectors to transform production processes through targeted investments, simulation modelling and intelligent design.

We are now creating a dedicated CAD Design Department for the first time in our history — and we’re looking for the right person to lead it. This is a unique opportunity for an experienced CAD Designer or Manager to shape and build a new technical function from the ground up.

About the Role:

As CAD Design Department Lead, you will be responsible for establishing and managing our internal CAD capability. You will direct all external design resources and any internal team members involved in CAD work, ensuring that design support is effectively balanced across our diverse project portfolio. You will play a key role in driving efficiency, compliance and innovation in complex manufacturing environments.

Key responsibilities

Department Leadership: Build and lead the CAD Design Department, setting standards, workflows and priorities to support JPH’s strategic goals.
Resource Management: Oversee and coordinate all external CAD contractors and internal contributors, ensuring optimal allocation of design resources across projects.
Subject Matter Expertise: Act as JPH’s CAD subject matter expert — capable of delivering high-quality CAD work, guiding others, and providing hands-on support across all design activities.
Technical Oversight: Develop and review detailed 2D/3D CAD models and technical drawings (e.g. P&IDs, piping layouts, platform designs) for production line layouts, equipment installations and infrastructure upgrades.
Project Support: Collaborate with project engineers and managers to deliver highquality visualisations and manufacturing drawings that mitigate risk and enhance production efficiency.
Compliance & Quality: Ensure all designs meet GMP, health and safety, and regulatory standards, and adhere to JPH’s quality management system (QMS).
Innovation: Identify opportunities to improve manufacturing performance through advanced CAD applications and digital modelling.
Modern Tools & Practices: Champion the adoption of cutting-edge technologies such as 3D scanning, 3D printing and virtualisation to enhance design accuracy, speed and collaboration.
Stakeholder Engagement: Lead design reviews, feasibility studies and gap analyses, and present findings and solutions to clients and internal teams.

Personal Specification:

Qualifications

Essential

Desirable

A degree in a relevant engineering discipline

CAD certification

Knowledge and experience:

Experience in engineering design within a manufacturing environment or engineering consultancy, ideally in regulated industries.

Demonstrable experience in designing production line components (machines and process equipment), factory layouts, P+IDs etc with a focus on optimisation and efficiency.

Knowledge of regulatory and design standards including GMP and H&S compliance in food and pharma sectors.

Able to use structural design knowledge to create concept designs for structural approval.

Demonstrable line management experience.

Skills:

Leadership

Strong proficiency in industry standard CAD software, e.g. AutoCAD, SolidWorks

Analytical skills to tackle complex manufacturing challenges

Attention to detail

Time management and prioritisation

Communication and interpersonal skills

To apply for this role, or to obtain further information, please contact Sarah Langer via email at careers@jphildreth.com

About J P Hildreth Ltd

Company values:

Our company is built on the principles of integrity, simplicity and clarity. These core values shape our decisions, actions, and interactions with both our clients and each other.

Integrity: We honour our commitments to ourselves and our clients whilst being ethical, transparent and trustworthy.
Simplicity: We deliver simple, effective solutions that prioritise efficiency and accessibility for ourselves and our clients.
Clarity: We use clear communication and actions which lead ourselves and our clients to visible success.

Employee owned:

J P Hildreth is an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) which means that the business is owned by an independent trust tasked to act in the best interest of the employees.

https://employeeownership.co.uk provides further information about the EOT philosophy and its practical impacts.

In November 2024, we were named EO Rising Star of the Year at the UK Employee Ownership Awards, recognising our people-first culture and commitment to delivering outstanding results for our clients.

Exceptional benefits of this type of structure for both our employees and our clients include (subject to contract conditions):

The long-term future and independence of JPH is secure.
The structure demands an active employee representation and involvement through to the operating board.
All employees are beneficiaries of the trust and business profits are reinvested and/or shared equitably among the employees (part of profit share payments are made free from income tax).

Ultimately, all of us employed here at J P Hildreth have an equitable stake in the future and success of the business. If this sounds like something you would love to be a part of then we would like to hear from you!

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