Manufacturing Engineer - Tooling

Job Title: Manufacturing Engineer
Location: Maidenhead - 4 days on site 
Engagement: Contract (PAYE/Umbrella), inside IR35

Rate: £40-60 per hour umbrella 

Were looking for a hands on Manufacturing Engineer with deep tooling expertise to support jigs, fixtures, CAD design, and CNC manufacturing across both Production and NPI operations.

What you'll do as a Manufacturing Engineer:

• Design & engineer tooling (jigs/fixtures) from 3D CAD models and 2D drawings, with clear build documentation.
• Apply GD&T to ensure precise tolerancing for lowvolume, highvalue aerospace components.
• Create and maintain manufacturing documentation (data cards, routings, SOPs, inspection docs).
• Develop, revise, and proof CNC programs for 3, 4 and 5axis machining centres to aerospace standards.
• Own tooling recordsdesign files, maintenance logs, and change history.
• Continuously improve designs for performance, manufacturability, and cost.
• Partner with Quality, Engineering, and Production to ensure compliance with AS9100 and FAIR.
• Drive machining/assembly process improvements and machine parts to meet operational needs.
• Support external tooling/fixture suppliers as required.

What experience you'll bring to the role as a Manufacturing Engineer:

• CNC programming & operation across 3/4/5axis machining.
• CAD/CAM fluencyideally SolidWorks plus Hypermill and/or Edgecam.
• Proven tooling design for assembly/test and production.
• Strong grasp of aerospace manufacturing, tooling design, and inspection methods.
• Confident reading engineering drawings, GD&T and technical specs.
• Handson with lathe/milling/drilling and working knowledge of aluminium, titanium, stainless steel, composites.
• Awareness of surface finishing (e.g., anodising, coatings).
• Familiarity with aerospace quality frameworks (FAIR, APQP, PPAP, AS9100).

Qualifications & experience for the Manufacturing Engineer role:

• 5 years in manufacturing engineering with focus on CAD tooling design, CAM, and CNC programming/operation.
• Experience operating/maintaining CNC machines (e.g., Mazak, Haas).
• Solid understanding of materials, tolerances, GD&T, DFM/DFA.
• Exposure to CNC machining, injection/composite moulding, 3D printing is beneficial.
• Comfortable working with inprogress models/designs and making pragmatic definition choices.
• Able to balance stakeholder and supplier inputs to optimise cost and leadtime.

If you're interested in this Manufacturing Engineer role please click 'apply' or contact Orion in Reading today.

Due to the volume of applications we receive, unfortunately we are not able to respond to every application personally, therefore, if you have not heard back from us within 5 working days please assume your application has been unsuccessful. Thank you.