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Design & Development Manager – Manufacturing / Product Innovation

Permanent | Competitive salary + benefits

Tonbridge

Contact: Emily Powell or Sammy Messenger – Pearson Whiffin Recruitment

Do you thrive in fast-paced, hands-on environments where ideas move quickly, and your decisions make a visible impact?

Are you the kind of design leader who brings energy, pushes boundaries, and loves solving real engineering problems—not just managing paperwork?

If you’re nodding, this could be your perfect next step

The Opportunity:

A well-established UK manufacturer is investing heavily in innovation and looking for a dynamic, engaging, sleeves-rolled-up Design & Development Manager to lead their in-house CAD and R&D function.

This role would suit someone currently operating as a Design Manager, Head of Design, NPD Manager or Senior Mechanical Designer within a manufacturing environment.

This isn’t a huge corporate machine where everything takes six months and requires four committees.

This is a business where:

Engineers actually get to engineer

New ideas get heard quickly

You can influence design strategy, production thinking, and product performance

You’ll be visible, valued, and genuinely shaping the next generation of products

You’ll head up a small, talented team and take ownership of all product design activity—from concept to production release.

As Design & Development Manager, you will:

Lead, motivate and develop a growing design and R&D team

Drive concept development, detail design and NPI activity

Champion innovation and continuous improvement in materials, mechanisms and manufacturing methods

Collaborate with production, operations and sales to make sure ideas translate into reality

Challenge existing processes, remove bottlenecks and introduce better ways of working

Oversee CAD best practice, technical accuracy, testing and compliance

Influence product strategy, cost improvements and future roadmap decisions

In short: you’ll be the person who makes great ideas happen.

What we’re looking for:

We want someone with spark. Someone who lights up when they talk about design.

Someone who thrives on problem-solving, gets stuck in, and loves working in an SME where pace matters.

You’ll also bring:

Solid experience leading a design, CAD or NPD function within manufacturing

A background in mechanical or product design (SolidWorks ideal)

Strong design-for-manufacture understanding

Relevant education – ideally degree level

A balance of creativity, technical competence and commercial awareness

The ability to rally a team, challenge thinking, and communicate with energy

A mindset that says: “Let’s find a solution,” not “That’s not my job.”

If you prefer rigid structure, big hierarchies, long sign-off chains or working at arm’s length—this won’t be your environment.

If you love variety, ownership and getting things done—you’ll thrive here.

Why join?

Real ownership of the design function

Space to innovate and influence

Senior visibility and a voice at the table

A supportive, ambitious leadership team

Products used across the UK and internationally

The chance to lead meaningful change in a business that actually welcomes it

This role is being managed exclusively by the Manufacturing, Engineering & Technical team at Pearson Whiffin Recruitment.

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