Are you an expert in Siemens control systems, with a strong track record in PLC programming, HMI design, and electrical fault finding? Do you thrive in a flexible, hybrid working environment and enjoy a mix of remote and on-site work? If so, this could be the role for you!

We’re looking for a Control Systems Engineer who is proficient in Siemens technologies—specifically Step 7 Classic, TIA Portal, S7-1500 PLCs, S120 Servo drives, and WinCC Unified—to join a dynamic team with a focus on upgrading legacy systems and creating bespoke solutions. If you’ve got experience working on older platforms as well as modern ones, that’s a huge plus, especially when it comes to migrating older technologies to newer systems.

What You’ll Be Doing:

A large portion of your role (around 70%) will involve upgrading and migrating systems—think moving from old hardware/software to newer versions. Experience with legacy code is a must, as you’ll be dealing with both new systems and old, and you'll need to modify them to deliver enhanced functionality.

Flexibility is key, as you may be required to help with breakdowns, supporting on-site clients, and assisting in full turn-key installations.

We want someone who’s ready to hit the ground running ideally but could consider providing training and support to help you get up to speed with the technologies and systems if needed.

The Role

This will be a hybrid role, offering a blend of remote and some on-site travel required. The work will vary week to week, and you’ll be expected to travel to key customer locations around the UK, with occasional international opportunities. Locations include Workington, Carlisle, Washington (Sunderland), and Lockerbie—and potentially beyond for global projects. Travel will be shared fairly, and your family life is important to us, so we’ll aim for a balanced approach to site visits.

When working remotely, the hours are flexible—whether you want to work 15 hours in one day and 3 the next or follow a more structured schedule, we trust you to manage your time as long as it fits with the project deadlines and deliverables. The key is to maintain flexibility and productivity, with the possibility of adjusting hours on a rolling basis, depending on your preferences.

Who You Are

• Siemens experience is non-negotiable: You need to be comfortable working with Step 7 Classic, TIA Portal, S7-1500, and WinCC Unified.
• Electronics knowledge is a big bonus—whether it’s fault finding, repair, or even designing your own circuits.
• Experience in electrical design (ePlan, AutoCAD Electrical) and machine safety (EC marking, compliance testing) would be a big plus, but not essential.
• Client-facing skills are a must—you’ll be working in high-pressure environments, particularly when troubleshooting during breakdowns, and you’ll need to stay calm under pressure. Strong verbal communication is key.
• The flexibility to adapt to different systems and technologies, as well as a keen eye for detail and a strong work ethic, will make you a great fit.

Why This Role Could Be a Perfect Fit

• Training and support are available for those willing to learn and adapt.
• Flexible working hours and remote setup offer a great work-life balance.
• There’s plenty of opportunity for variety—from legacy system upgrades to cutting-edge electronic design.

If you’re excited by the prospect of working in a flexible, supportive, and varied role, then we’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to get in touch with Eloisa@optima-cs.com or call 0161 250 5326 to chat further.

• They’re actively looking for this person and have been for 8 months now
• They have actually hire (2 or 3 people) but they’ve left as in the interview they’ve played it as though they can do more than they actually can and one left to go back to his previous company
• Electrical design but if someone can do controls too then that’s a bonus
• Skillset and salaries have been the main issue really (people expecting more than what they can actually do)
• Electrical design: Eplan, design pneumatics, control panels, wiring diagrams, schematics, BOM, documentation, voltages etc
• Control systems: they use siemens
• Commissioning: all UK based (if electrical bias about 2 weeks per year) / (If controls bias it’d be more)
• Open to them being more software bias as they’d make the role suit the person and skillset
• They export their product around the world but this person wouldn’t need to go overseas
• Pharmaceutical industry- this person doesn’t need pharma experience (can be from any background as long as it’s automation)
• Mon/Tues/Thurs they’d be in the office near Liverpool airport
• Weds/ Fri from home
• They have one team of 6 engineers that are a mix of controls, elec design and duall skilled, apprentices etc
• They’d deal with technical sales, costing, design, specifications, testing, documentation, programming, commissioning through to client handover
• Open to years of experience – progression is deffo on the cards but depends on the persons goals
• 60-70k depending on experience
• Pension
• Hybrid
• £100 per night/ £150 for weekend / £200 for a Sunday ?
• Company car when travelling to site

Imagine continually growing so much that you need to purpose build a brand new facility on site to keep up with the workload demands. This is where you’ll come in…

It’s an inward facing role as a Construction Project Manager, overseeing the whole project from start to finish, including advising at conception, as well as managing the redevelopment of the existing site (which is massive by the way, so no chance of you ever getting bored).

Obviously, you’ll need a background in managing complex construction projects (specifically with complex concrete, foundations, basements and steel framed buildings), and a solid understanding of all that comes with it; HSE regs (particularly CDM), building regs and planning permissions etc, and it’d be great if you have experience in estimations.

You’ll be the go to person for this, so you’ll need a degree of comfort working autonomously (don’t take that to mean you’ll be unsupported however), you’ll obviously be liaising with the engineers and other people in the business, and will work closely with the Ops Director, but for now, you’re being brought in as a specialist for a reason. There’ll be numerous other parties involved across sub contractors and architects etc. so you’ll need to feel confident liaising with external stakeholders as well as your own team.

For full transparency, they’re expecting the project to last between 3 and 5 years, with potential for another facility being built in future. They’re flexible on your previous project experience in terms of value/s and length, so long as you’ve done something similar and ideally within Engineering.

You’d be based at the site in Sheffield and salary wise they’re looking at around £60-65k, though there could be some flex in there for the right person. Get in touch if it could be worth discussing further - 0161 250 5326

The market for jobs hard going at the moment.  Well, good ones, at least.  Everywhere you look it seems as though another business is closing, restructuring or struggling in some way so being in a stable job is understandably important.

If finding a role where you have that, but that’ll also challenge you to be the best version of yourself appeals, you might want to hear more about this one.

Starting with the work; as a Mechanical Design Engineer you’ll be using Inventor to design complex special purpose machinery.  Every project is 100% bespoke so whilst you’ll probably find some crossover with elements of other projects, no 2 projects will be the same. 

I really want to stress that this isn’t your 3-metre straight line conveyor system that goes into a food site.  We’re talking gas combustion ovens, coolers, hot plates, dispensers and “pick and place” systems covering multiple fully automated product lines.

Culturally; this is a team that works closely together with the customers’ maintenance team in mind.  Sales actively encourage engineering involvement so there’s no risk of over promising.  That means you’ll have a chance to meet customer and be truly involved from concept all the way through to commissioning.  You’ll probably want to stay close to the electrical and software teams too, to make sure everything will run smoothly for the customer on delivery. 

The business is firmly on the acquisition trail.  That means they’re actively pursuing additions to their existing skillset either with completely new technology in a similar technical area or its desire to add in more advanced robotics capability. 

Right now, there’s quite a flat team structure.  That’s probably quite good if you’re keen to expand your knowledge and experience as an engineer but not so good if you’re hoping this’ll be a step into team leadership or something like that – might as well be honest rather than letting you think you’ll likely be running the place inside 5 years.  That said, as things continue to grow and expand there’s no saying you won’t take the lead on some pretty innovative and interesting projects that could see your opportunities to climb the ladder increase.

Salary wise; you’ll probably start on a base of around £40k - £42k, though I’d imagine that’ll grow as your time and influence on the team does.  It’s a company with really solid staff retention, which is never a bad sign.

The offices are in Nelson.  Just off the motorway and in a really nice new (ish) industrial unit.  You’ll be based there during the working week (site visits aside) – some people will see that as a dealbreaker, which is fair enough.  If you see it as a chance to collaborate with an experienced and growing engineering team on a massive growth trajectory, I really think we should speak.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a CV ready to go just yet.  We can cross that bridge when we come to it. 0161 250 5326 | daki@optima-cs.com  

 It's been really busy but doing really well-

- Company has been officially running for 3 months and they've turned over half a million pound 

- Really similar to Niscam- logisitx so aiports and warehouses mainly but don't restrict themselves from any industry

-No office so would be working from home 

-They offer everything so 

Elec design, panel build and install using autocad electrical - would like to move to eplan so that'd be ideal

Programming- mainly siemens  through to comissioning 

- Dependfs on the project for site time but 70/30 split- a bit of give and take but a couple of days here and there- may be more but then in quieter periods they'd have a few days off etc 

Flexible hours- between 7-6pm aslong as hours are done and they behave like an adult get the job done he's not too precious (37 hour week)

Looking for 2/3 perm engineers - hardware design and programming x 1 and 2 x software bias guys 

65k + medical and flexibility

Progression? Stioll a start up so mainly on the tools but hoping to build the team to 10/12 engineers 

Materials handling/ converyors exp is ideal but not essential as happy to teach 

Uk based avoid weekends - midlands/ north west - 

Few names 

Waqas 

Max

Sam driver

Ikechi 

Iain Mclean? 

Said Shah

Welsey 

Are you the type of person that likes the idea of having a long-term progression plan when joining a new company?

If so and you’re an experienced Electrical Design Engineer, I have a role that could be right up your street…

I’m working with a company that design and manufacture bespoke machines that work hand in hand with robots for a variety of industries meaning no two projects will be the same.

You’d need to be confident designing Electrical Control Panels, wiring diagrams and schematics from scratch ideally using Eplan or AutoCAD Electrical.

Progression wise, the company are hoping to have the electrical design department as its own entity with its own management structure meaning you’ll have plenty of different paths to take depending on your preference and goals.

The role itself is hybrid, so you’d work remotely for the majority of the week and go into the office in Stockport one day a week, the company are huge on work life balance and also offer flexi hours, so you’d never miss a school pick up again.

Salary wise, it’ll fall between £40,000-£60,000 depending on your experience.

If this sounds like something that’d be worth fleshing out in more detail, please feel free to pop me a call or email.

Eloisa@optima-cs.com | 0161 250 5326

Are you a Mechanical Design Engineer looking for your next challenge? Bring your expertise to a team where your ideas will directly shape cutting-edge solutions in food manufacturing.

The company is seeking a talented Mechanical Design Engineer to develop sophisticated solutions in food manufacturing. You’ll be working in a dynamic environment where your technical expertise can truly make an impact.

You'll dive deep into mechanical design, crafting detailed drawings and 3D models using Autodesk Inventor and AutoCAD. Your work will involve researching new materials, constructing prototypes, and collaborating with design and sales teams to bring innovative concepts to life.

With at least five years of experience in mechanical engineering or industrial design, you'll apply technical expertise to complex problem-solving. Your advanced skills in metal fabrication and bulk handling systems will be critical in developing solutions that meet rigorous industry standards. You'll need proficiency in Autodesk Inventor, AutoCAD, and Vault Workgroup, plus a full UK driving licence and willingness to travel.

This role demands an engineer who approaches challenges with creativity, precision, and a forward-thinking mindset. If you're passionate about pushing the boundaries of mechanical design, we want to hear from you.

You’ll be based in Manchester and the salary is around the £40k mark with flexible working and lots of development opportunities.

Get in touch for more info – beth@optima-cs.com | 0161 250 5326

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Are you an innovative engineer with a passion for developing custom machinery and automation systems?

The company is seeking a talented engineer to develop special purpose machinery, automation equipment, and PLC-controlled systems. You'll be at the forefront of creating sophisticated technical solutions, transforming complex engineering challenges into practical designs.

Your role will involve creating detailed 3D designs and drawings, working closely with an experienced design team to bring mechanical solutions to life. You'll investigate material suitability, translate technical concepts, and develop precise manufacturing-ready drawings that solve real engineering problems.

You'll bring expertise in special purpose machinery, machine tools, and automation equipment and proficiency in 3D CAD software - particularly Solid Edge - will be crucial. The business values engineers who understand both technical design and manufacturability.

You'll need to be someone who manages multiple projects effectively, maintains exceptional attention to detail, and communicates technical concepts clearly. The ideal candidate will be technically sharp, adaptable, and eager to contribute to innovative engineering solutions.

Your technical skills should include:

• Mechanical design experience using Solid Edge
• Knowledge of PLC-controlled machines
• Understanding of electrical components
• Ability to create detailed manufacturing drawings
• A practical approach to design challenges

They offer a competitive package with five weeks' annual leave, a contributory pension scheme, and potential overtime. More importantly, you'll join a team that values innovation and professional growth.

You’d be based around the West Yorkshire with decent shift patterns and an early finish before the weekend starts, the starting salary would be around £40K.

Get in touch for more info – beth@optima-cs.com | 0161 250 5326

Mechanical Design Engineer - £50k – Bradford

If you're looking for a role where you’ll just churn out the same old designs, this probably isn’t it. But if you’re ready to tackle some of the most complex manufacturing automation problems and want to help create solutions that set new standards, keep reading.

The company is growing quickly and need a solid Mechanical Design Engineer who can hit the ground running, contributing to their reputation for delivering complete process solutions—ones that help customers increase efficiency, cut costs, and eliminate defects. They need someone who can translate that reputation into mechanical design excellence.

From initial concept to final delivery, you'll be instrumental in bringing sophisticated automation solutions to life, working closely with customers to understand their manufacturing needs and then bringing them life using Solidworks. From designing automated assembly machines to manual tooling aids, your work will be central to improving how production happens on the factory floor.

You won’t be stuck in one area either, you’ll collaborate across departments—whether it’s electrical engineers, suppliers, or manufacturing teams—to ensure that every aspect of the project comes together seamlessly.

You’ll be based in Bradford and salary is around £50k to start with, though that could flex for the right person. Get in touch for more info – beth@optima-cs.com | 0161 250 5326