Process Engineer Lead (Injection Moulding)

Job Title: Process Engineer Lead (Injection Moulding)
Location: BioPure - UK - Havant
Location Type: Hybrid
Website: https://www.wmfts.com/en/
Group: https://www.spiraxgroup.com/

Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions is part of Spirax Group, a FTSE100 and FTSE4Good multi-national industrial engineering Group with expertise in the control and management of steam, electric thermal solutions, peristaltic pumping and associated fluid technologies.

When you join us, you will be integrated into a cooperative and encouraging team, participate in challenging yet critical work, and experience ongoing growth opportunities to help you achieve your full potential. Visit our website to learn more.

Key Responsibilities:

We are looking for an experienced Senior / Lead Injection Moulding Engineer to join our engineering team and provide specialist technical leadership across injection moulding, polymer processing, tooling, and new product introduction.
This role would suit a highly experienced moulding engineer with strong hands-on process knowledge, deep understanding of polymers, and proven experience working closely with mould toolmakers to deliver robust tooling and repeatable manufacturing processes.

You will play a key role in developing and optimising moulding processes, resolving tooling and processing issues, supporting new product development, and ensuring moulded components consistently meet demanding product specifications.
You will be a key player in our Fluid Path NPI team and help us drive forward our ambitious goals. The core function of Watson-Marlow’s NPI teams is to deliver new products to market. Fluid Path NPI also acts as a custodian of design intent for existing Fluid Path products and must authorize any changes to product or manufacturing processes.

Key accountabilities include:

• Lead injection moulding process development, optimisation, troubleshooting, and validation.
• Fine tune moulding parameters to achieve dimensional, functional, visual, and mechanical product specifications.
• Provide expert support on polymer selection, material behaviour, and processing characteristics.
• Work closely with mould toolmakers on new mould design, tool trials, modifications, and issue resolution.
• Support new product introduction from design concept through to production release.
• Diagnose and resolve moulding defects, tooling issues, material concerns, and process instability.
• Establish robust process windows and support capability improvement.
• Review tooling designs and provide input on gating, cooling, venting, ejection, parting lines, and manufacturability.
• Support validation, quality investigations, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement activity.
• Define gauging concepts for critical moulded features and product interfaces.
• Support the design, specification, validation, and implementation of dedicated inspection fixtures and functional gauges.
• Work with internal or external gauge suppliers to develop robust and repeatable gauging solutions.
• Support gauge repeatability and reproducibility studies.
• Ensure gauging strategies are suitable for; Mould trial evaluation, Process validation and production quality control.
• Ensure metrology and gauging outputs are clearly linked to product specifications and control plans.
• Mentor engineers and technicians in best practice injection moulding and tooling principles.

Skills/Experience:

• Extensive injection moulding process development and troubleshooting experience.
• Strong knowledge of polymer materials and their processing characteristics.
• Experience working with mould toolmakers on new tools, tool modifications, and tooling issue resolution.
• Proven ability to optimise moulding processes to meet demanding product specifications.
• Good understanding of mould tool design, gating, cooling, venting, ejection, shrinkage, and warpage.
• Experience supporting new product introduction and production handover.
• Strong structured problem-solving and root cause analysis skills.
• Excellent communication skills with internal teams and external suppliers.
• Proven experience of working with product drawings and tooling drawings and models within a CAD environment.
• Experience with SolidWorks is advantageous.

Desirable:

• Experience in medical device, life sciences, pharmaceutical, food contact, automotive, aerospace, or other regulated/high-precision sectors.
• Experience with process validation, IQ/OQ/PQ, FMEA, control plans, and capability studies.
• Experience with cleanroom moulding, high-performance polymers, over-moulding, insert moulding, or multi-cavity tooling.
• Formal training in scientific moulding, polymer science, toolmaking, or plastics engineering.
• Experience with statistical process control, capability analysis, and measurement system understanding.
• Formal training in Lean Six Sigma, or equivalent would be advantageous.

At Watson-Marlow, we believe in taking care of our colleagues. We offer a generous benefits package, including:

• A competitive salary
• Flexible working arrangements
• A generous holiday allowance
• Three days’ paid volunteering leave
• Additional support and benefits through our Everyone is Included Group Inclusion Plan

Everyone is Included at Spirax Group
We are passionate about creating inclusive and equitable working cultures where everyone can be themselves and achieve their full potential. For us, that means supportive teams and strong relationships where everyone’s contribution is valued - across social and cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, ages, genders, gender identities, abilities, neurodiversity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, and everything else that makes us human and unique.

We want everyone to be able to make their difference here, so we will always consider requests for flexible working.

We know that everyone needs some extra help from time to time too, so we have introduced a range of additional benefits through our Group Inclusion Commitments. These include

• Gender-neutral parental leave
• 15 days of extra paid caregiver leave
• Paid time off and support for anyone experiencing pregnancy loss or domestic abuse
• Menopause-friendly workplace principles and more

Learn more at spiraxgroup.com/inclusion.

We are also a Disability Confident Committed Employer. If you would like to apply using this scheme, please select this option in our application form.

We are an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply.

If you require accommodations during the application process, please let us know.

Company Overview
At Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions, part of Spirax Group, we are driven by innovation and are dedicated to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone is empowered to make a difference. As a world leader in manufacturing peristaltic pumps and associated fluid path technologies for the life sciences and process industries, we offer a wide range of products, including tubing, specialised filling systems and products for single-use applications.

Our shared Purpose is to create sustainable value for all our stakeholders as we engineer a more efficient, safer and sustainable world. Our technologies play an essential role in critical industrial processes and industrial equipment across industries as diverse as Food & Beverage, Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology, Power Generation, Semiconductors and Healthcare. With customers in 116 countries, we provide the solutions that sit behind the production of many items used in daily life, from baked beans to mobile phones!

Our inclusive culture and Values, unites us, guides our decisions and inspires us everywhere that we operate. We support our colleagues to make their difference for each other as well as customers, communities, suppliers, our planet and shareholders by creating a truly equitable working environment where everyone feels included.