Mechanical Design Engineer - Engineering & Automation

Crescent Consulting – Christchurch, South Island Our client is a well-respected leader in designing and building automation equipment for over a century, growing from a local engineering firm into a business with manufacturing and service operations globally. Their equipment moves product through some of the world's largest food processing plants, mining operations, supporting heavy plan vehicles and appliance manufacturers, supplying major international customers across those sectors. The Christchurch site has a strong pipeline of work ahead and is continuing to grow its engineering team to support this and the company's wider global growth plans. The role You’ll join a small, close-knit design team responsible for the full lifecycle of bespoke automation equipment, from concept through to build, commissioning and site support both in New Zealand and overseas. This is genuine end-to-end mechanical design: working out how a machine folds a piece of steel, why a hole has to be cut before it’s flanged, and how a machine built here ends up running reliably at 50 degrees in Western Australia or minus 35 in Canada. You’ll work closely with the controls engineers to translate mechanical designs into fully specified, sensor-driven automated systems, and you’ll see your designs through to physical machines on the factory floor rather than handing them off and moving on. What you’ll bring Mechanical design experience in an automation, machine building or industrial equipment environment, ideally including exposure to sheet metal processing, materials handling or process automation Proficiency in SolidWorks, with confidence taking designs from concept through to manufacturing drawings Confidence designing for manufacture and for real-world operating conditions (temperature extremes, washdown environments, high-cycle production), not just theoretical design A collaborative approach, comfortable working alongside controls engineers, fabricators and site teams to get equipment from drawing board to a working machine What’s on offer A genuinely varied design environment spanning food processing, mining, materials handling and appliance manufacturing, with equipment shipped to customers worldwide. You’ll work out of a modern, well-equipped site, with the autonomy to own your designs end to end and a relaxed, down-to-earth team culture. Our client invests in developing its engineers rather than treating them as short-term project resource, and offers real career progression within a business with a clear growth strategy. What next If you’re motivated by solving genuine engineering problems, designing equipment that has to perform reliably in demanding real-world conditions, and being part of a team that owns its designs from first sketch through to a finished machine on the factory floor, this is a chance to make a real impact. Applicants must have the right to work in New Zealand. #J-18808-Ljbffr