Senior Mechanical CAD Designer

Job Title: Senior Mechanical Designer
Location: Flexible, UK + Hybrid Working Arrangement
Compensation: Competitive Salary+ Benefits
Role Type: Full time / Permanent
Role ID: SF66844
Play Your Part in Securing the Future of UK Defence
At Cavendish Nuclear, we're working to create a safe and secure world, together. If you join us, you'll play your part as a Senior Mechanical Designer based at one of our key locations: Warrington (Cheshire), Bristol, Newbury (Berkshire) or Preston (Lancashire).

The role
As a Senior Mechanical Designer, you'll have a role that's out of the ordinary. This role will contribute to a high-impact public sector Defence Nuclear infrastructure initiative focused on enhancing operational resilience and sustainability across critical systems. The project involves complex mechanical systems integration, requiring innovative engineering solutions within a multidisciplinary team.

Day-to-day, you'll guide and support a team of mechanical designers, resolving complex design challenges, assuring the quality of outputs, and applying your specialist CAD and technical expertise to deliver solutions that meet engineering standards across the full project lifecycle.

• Allocate and oversee design tasks across a multidisciplinary team, ensuring drawing outputs meet quality standards and are well-coordinated across disciplines.
• Provide technical guidance and support to designers, advising on appropriate tools, methods, and best practices throughout the design lifecycle.
• Liaise with customers and stakeholders to resolve technical issues, maintain progress visibility, and support business development opportunities.
• Contribute to the creation and review of design documentation, including drawings and specifications, in line with ISO standards and project requirements.
• Lead design reviews, resolve production and technical queries, and promote continuous improvement through learning from experience and industry best practice.

This role is full time (37 hours per week) and provides hybrid working arrangements with three days onsite/office, based at one of our key locations: Warrington (Cheshire), Bristol (Bristol), Newbury (Berkshire) or Preston (Lancashire).

Essential experience of the Senior Mechanical Designer:

• Significant experience in producing and reviewing design outputs across the full lifecycle, including concept, detail, and production design stages.
• Proven ability to lead and coordinate multidisciplinary design teams, ensuring quality, consistency, and compliance with industry standards.
• Strong CAD proficiency and technical knowledge within a specialist design discipline, with a track record of resolving complex design challenges.
• Demonstrated experience in stakeholder engagement, including managing technical queries and contributing to design reviews and customer communications.

Qualifications for the Senior Mechanical Designer:

• HNC/HND minimum in a relevant discipline OR equivalent academic qualification

Security Clearance
The successful candidate must be able to achieve and maintain Security Check (SC) security clearance for this role. Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK )

What We Offer

• Generous holiday allowance
• Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance
• Access to a Digital GP, annual health check, and nutritional consultations through Aviva DigiCare+
• Employee share scheme
• Employee shopping savings portal
• Payment of Professional Fees
• Reservists in the armed forces receive 10-days special paid leave
• Holiday Trading is a benefit that allows UK Cavendish employees to buy additional leave or to sell up to one working week of annual leave from their annual entitlement. This Window opens February through to March annually.
• 'Be Kind Day' enables employees to take one working day's paid leave a year (or equivalent hours) to undertake volunteering work with their chosen organisation or registered charity
• Excellent development opportunities and benefits package including an employee assistance programme supporting physical, mental and financial wellbeing.

Cavendish Nuclear
As a leader within the UK nuclear industry, Cavendish Nuclear, part of Babcock International Group, provides a comprehensive range of critical nuclear solutions in clean energy, defence and civil new build and decommissioning projects. Together, we're innovating to make nuclear safer, faster and cost-effective across the nuclear energy life cycle. Your career with us could take you anywhere within Babcock International Group – from Canada, the USA to Japan. Work with us to create a safe and secure world, together.

We are a disability confident committed employer. If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages, please email with the subject header 'Reasonable adjustments requirement'. We're committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone's free to thrive. We are happy to talk about flexible working – please ask about alternative patterns of work at interview.