Automation & Product Development Engineer

Automation & Product Development Engineer
Role Details

Department: Product & Engineering
Reports to: VP of Operations
Location: Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Contract type: Full-time, permanent
Salary: Competitive, depending on experience
Start date: As soon as possible
Travel requirement: Occasional UK and international travel to suppliers, customer sites and live deployments
Working pattern: Primarily based at our Wakefield headquarters, workshop and development facility, with flexibility where the role allows

Boxbar Tech is an award-winning, high-growth technology company transforming how drinks are served across events, venues, stadiums, arenas and hospitality environments globally.

We create automated self-service drinks technology designed to increase service speed, improve quality, reduce queues, drive operational efficiency and improve the customer experience. Our technology combines physical products, electrical and mechanical systems, software, automation and connected services.

We operate at the intersection of technology, hospitality, events, operations and manufacturing. We design, prototype, build, deploy and support our own technology in live, mission-critical environments where reliability, quality, and speed matter.

As our product platform continues to develop, including automated dispense, keg-management, hospitality, cleaning and operational-efficiency systems, we are looking for an engineer who can help turn new ideas into robust, scalable products.

We are looking for a practical and inventive Automation & Product Development Engineer to support the development of Boxbar’s current and future products.

This position will sit at the heart of our product development, prototyping and R&D activity. You will work across mechanical, electrical and automation disciplines, taking ideas from early-stage concepts through prototyping, testing, refinement and preparation for manufacture.

The role would suit someone with a mechanical, electrical, mechatronics or industrial-automation background who enjoys solving physical engineering problems. You may be developing an automated mechanism one day, building a test rig the next, investigating a product failure or working with suppliers to improve a design for manufacture.

This is not a desk-based design role. We need someone who enjoys building, testing, taking things apart, diagnosing problems and making products work more reliably.

• Develop new automated and electromechanical products, features and subsystems.
• Translate product ideas and operational requirements into practical engineering concepts.
• Build functional prototypes and proof-of-concept systems.
• Test, evaluate and refine prototypes through structured development cycles.
• Investigate new technologies, components and engineering approaches that could improve Boxbar’s products.
• Help assess the technical feasibility, cost and scalability of new product concepts.
• Support products from initial concept through validation, pilot deployment and production readiness.

• Design and integrate mechanical, electrical and automated systems.
• Specify and select suitable sensors, actuators, motors, pumps, valves, switches, relays, control components and power supplies.
• Develop mechanisms and assemblies capable of operating reliably in demanding hospitality and live-event environments.
• Design or support the development of control panels, wiring systems and electrical assemblies.
• Produce and maintain electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, technical drawings and engineering specifications.
• Develop or modify PLC, microcontroller or other control-system logic where appropriate.
• Ensure mechanical, electrical and software-controlled components work together as an integrated product.

• Build prototypes, test rigs and experimental assemblies using workshop equipment and rapid-prototyping techniques.
• Develop practical test plans covering performance, reliability, safety, usability and environmental conditions.
• Carry out lifecycle, stress, failure-mode and repeatability testing.
• Identify faults…