Design Engineers, headhunted not advertised.
The good ones are not on job boards. We know because we have spent ten years in this market finding the people who are not looking.
Design Engineering is four disciplines.
We cover all of them.
Most agencies that say 'we recruit Design Engineers' mean Mechanical and stop there. Design Engineering is broader than that. The product gets shaped by mechanical, electrical, electronic, and embedded software people working together, and a good hire in any one of those four lanes can save a project. We work across all four because that is how engineering products actually get designed.
Mechanical Design
Mechanical Design Engineers, Senior Mechanical Designers, CAD Engineers, Product Design Engineers, Stress and FEA Engineers. SolidWorks, Inventor, Creo, Catia.
Electrical Design
Electrical Design Engineers, Senior Electrical Engineers, Power Electronics Engineers, Control Systems Engineers. EPLAN, AutoCAD Electrical, schematic and panel design.
Electronic Design
Electronic Design Engineers, Hardware Engineers, PCB Design Engineers, RF Engineers, Analogue and Digital Design. Altium, OrCAD, Cadence.
Embedded Software
Embedded Software Engineers, Firmware Engineers, Real-time Systems Engineers, Systems Engineers. C, C++, Embedded Linux, RTOS.
The sectors we know.
We have placed Design Engineers into every kind of UK manufacturing business. Some sectors we work in regularly, others occasionally. The pattern matters less than the work, and good Design Engineers transfer across sectors more than people think.
Automation
Medical Devices
Oil & Gas
Defence
Scientific Instruments
Microscopy
Agricultural Machinery
Special Purpose Machinery
Renewables
Automotive
Robotics
Industrial Equipment
Salary ranges, UK, 2026.
These are real ranges based on placements we have made or seen in the last 12 months. They assume permanent, full-time, mid-sized UK manufacturing employers. Senior London or specialist defence work goes higher. Junior roles in less competitive regions sit at the lower end.
Table 1: Mechanical Design
| Role | Range |
|---|---|
| Junior / Graduate | £28,000 to £35,000 |
| Mid-level (3-7 years) | £38,000 to £52,000 |
| Senior | £52,000 to £68,000 |
| Principal / Lead | £68,000 to £85,000 |
If you are not sure where your role sits, ask us. We will tell you straight.
Table 2: Electrical Design
| Role | Range |
|---|---|
| Junior / Graduate | £30,000 to £37,000 |
| Mid-level (3-7 years) | £42,000 to £56,000 |
| Senior | £56,000 to £72,000 |
| Principal / Lead | £72,000 to £90,000 |
If you are not sure where your role sits, ask us. We will tell you straight.
Table 3: Electronic Design
| Role | Range |
|---|---|
| Junior / Graduate | £32,000 to £40,000 |
| Mid-level (3-7 years) | £45,000 to £60,000 |
| Senior | £60,000 to £78,000 |
| Principal / Lead | £78,000 to £95,000 |
If you are not sure where your role sits, ask us. We will tell you straight.
Table 4: Embedded Software
| Role | Range |
|---|---|
| Junior / Graduate | £35,000 to £45,000 |
| Mid-level (3-7 years) | £50,000 to £68,000 |
| Senior | £68,000 to £85,000 |
| Principal / Lead | £85,000 to £105,000 |
If you are not sure where your role sits, ask us. We will tell you straight.
A Design Engineering brief we are proud of.
CoolLED. The brief he thought was impossible.
A Technical Director at a UK scientific instrument manufacturer needed an R&D Engineer with laser experience, Zemax, and the soft skills to talk to customers and support sales. His own words: 'I am probably asking too much.'
The job ad had not worked. We headhunted three candidates. Two went through to second stage. He made two offers. Both accepted.
What happens when you send us a Design Engineering spec.
1. We talk it through.
20-minute call, usually. We want to know the technical brief, the team they will sit in, the manager, the salary, and the realistic timeline. If something is not going to work, we tell you on this call.
2. We map the market.
We identify the population of engineers who could plausibly do the job. Sometimes that is 80 people, sometimes it is eight. Either way we know who they are before we make a single approach.
3. We headhunt.
Direct contact, by phone, by LinkedIn, sometimes by email if it is the right channel. We do not run job ads as the primary search method. The good engineers are not reading them.
4. We screen properly.
Technical screen first, then a longer conversation about motivation, fit, and what they actually want from their next role. We do not pass anyone you would not pass yourself.
5. We deliver a shortlist.
Three to five candidates, usually. With notes on each. Honest ones, including the weaknesses.
Hiring a Design Engineer? Let us see the spec.
Twenty minutes on a call, no commitment, no pitch. We will tell you whether we can help, what the market will pay, and what realistic looks like.