Senior Mechanical Engineer

A little bit about us

At Recycleye, we're transforming recycling through advanced AI and automation. Our technology enables waste management companies to recover more material, more efficiently - turning waste into valuable resource.

Since launching in 2019, we've scaled rapidly, deploying our AI-powered sorting systems across Europe and the US. But the challenge remains enormous - globally, only 9% of plastic waste is recycled.

Our systems operate in harsh industrial environments, at high throughput, and under demanding reliability requirements. Solving these challenges requires thoughtful, robust mechanical engineering - and that's where you come in.

Why join Recycleye?

This is a rare opportunity to join a scaling hardware company at the point where strong mechanical engineering will make a huge impact.

You won't just design parts - you'll help shape systems, define engineering standards, and build the foundations for scalable hardware deployed globally.

We offer:

• High ownership and autonomy

• Fast-paced scale-up environment with real engineering challenges

• Opportunity to shape processes, standards, and best practices

• Exposure to full product lifecycle and customer deployments

• Hybrid working (typically 4 days in Stratford office, 1 remote)

The opportunity

We're looking for a Mechanical Engineer with 7+ years of experience to join our Production team and be the go-to mechanical engineer for Quantisort 2.0, our next-generation optical sorting platform.

This is primarily an office-first, hands-on role. You'll support PMs and integrators with Quantisort projects, resolve technical challenges, and drive continuous improvements of performance, reliability, and scalability.

Responsibilities Overview

Quantisort 2.0 Product Ownership

• Act as the mechanical owner for Quantisort 2.0, driving the transition from configurable solution to standardised, off-the-shelf product

• Improve repeatability of third-party integration

• Drive product maturity and improve robustness and serviceability

• Develop scalable subassemblies to work for any deployment without bespoke engineering

• Work cross-functionally with software, hardware, operations, and production teams

• Travel to customer sites for installations and troubleshooting across Europe (once per month)

• Lead completion of the CE marking process for Quantisort 2.0, working cross-functionally to ensure compliance

Production, Manufacturing & Supplier Collaboration

• Mechanical design (3D CAD assemblies, 2D engineering drawings for fabrication, etc) to help create solutions and retrofit our technology into our client's facilities across Europe.

• Create installation guidelines, compliance matrices for integrators to adhere to, enabling our product to remain standard.

• Supporting all stages of the project lifecycle e.g. sales scoping, client layout, build, FAT, install, SAT, commissioning, after-care.

• Optimise designs for manufacturability, assembly, and integration (DFM/DFA)

• Optimise build/FAT processes through tooling, testing jigs, process, and design optimisation.

• Reduce part count, simplify assemblies

• Work with suppliers and fabricators to improve manufacturability and sourcing

• Play a role in transitioning the production team to an ERP system

• Lead value engineering and cost reduction initiatives

• Improve installation efficiency and build processes

Engineering Process & Best Practices

• Improve documentation, version control, and release processes

• Drive engineering standards and best practices

• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to technical reviews

Requirements

• Degree in Mechanical Engineering, or General Engineering with mechanical specialisation

• 7+ years of mechanical engineering experience delivering industrial hardware at scale
• Proven ability to identify and implement process improvements
• Experience working in fast-paced, iterative engineering environments
• Highly confident using Solidworks and PDM and producing drawings for manufacture.
• Strong systems-level thinking and problem-solving ability
• Solid understanding of manufacturing processes (fabrication, sheet metal, machining, assembly)
• Experience improving products in production or field-deployed environments
• Hands-on attitude: you are happy to go and sort out problems at client locations if need be or to assemble one of our products and do some troubleshooting when necessary.
• Strong communication skills and cross-functional collaboration
• Excellent skills in communicating technical information clearly to team members and key stakeholders.

It's a bonus if you have

• SolidWorks certification (CSWP/CSWE), particularly sheet metal design
• Experience with industrial machinery, automation, or robotics
• Experience working on deployed customer equipment
• Experience scaling hardware from prototype to production
• Experience with pneumatics, conveyors, or material handling systems
• Startup or scale-up experience
• Experience mentoring engineers or leading technical initiatives
• A keen interest in solving the problems within the recycling industry.

Even if you don't tick every box listed above but are motivated by our work and believe you can make a difference on our team, we'd really love to hear from you - so please do apply and drop us a note about what you bring!

We are particularly interested in hearing from you if your background enables you to bring a different perspective to our team.

Benefits

• An excellent salary that's both equitable and reviewed regularly
• Progression: we are growing rapidly and excited for you to make an impact as we do so.
• Unlimited holiday.
• A welcoming and inclusive team environment with monthly company-wide socials.
• Plenty of opportunities for training and personal development
• Healthcare coverage - Vitality is available from your very first day!