R&D Technician

Location: Braintree, Essex
Department: Research & Development
Employment: Full-time, permanent

Join Our Research & Development Team

Essex X-Ray is looking for a practical, enthusiastic R&D Technician to join our growing engineering team in Braintree.

We design and manufacture specialist high-voltage products for demanding applications, and our R&D team plays a key role in developing new products, improving existing designs and supporting our manufacturing operations.

This is a varied, hands-on engineering role combining practical workshop activities, technical documentation, prototype assembly and development testing.

You’ll work closely with our engineers and production colleagues, helping to turn engineering designs into reliable, manufacturable products.

What You’ll Be Doing

You’ll play an important role in documenting, developing and improving our manufacturing processes, working closely with engineering and production teams to establish clear, effective assembly procedures. You’ll help capture and standardise best practices, improve product quality and consistency, and identify opportunities to make our manufacturing operations more efficient.

As you develop within the role, your responsibilities will include:

• Document, develop and continuously improve manufacturing processes, creating clear technical work instructions that support consistent, high-quality production.
• Collaborate with production teams to identify opportunities to improve assembly methods, product quality and manufacturing efficiency.
• Train production operatives in new and revised manufacturing processes.
• Build and modify engineering prototypes and development assemblies.
• Set up and conduct development tests, accurately recording results.
• Build and modify test rigs, fixtures and tooling.
• Produce and update basic engineering drawings.
• Support engineering investigations and contribute practical ideas to product development.

What We’re Looking For

We’re looking for someone with a practical engineering background, good attention to detail and a methodical approach to their work.

Ideally, you’ll have:

• A Level 3 or higher qualification in an engineering discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience working in a practical engineering or manufacturing environment.
• The ability to read and interpret engineering drawings.
• Good hands-on assembly and workshop skills.
• Confidence producing clear, accurate technical documentation.
• A practical approach to problem-solving and continuous improvement.
• Good communication skills and the ability to work effectively with engineers and production colleagues.

Experience with prototype assembly, development testing or CAD would be advantageous.

Above all, we’re looking for someone who takes pride in their work, enjoys practical engineering challenges and is keen to develop their technical skills.

What We Offer

This is an opportunity to join a specialist engineering business where you’ll be directly involved in both product development and manufacturing improvement.

You’ll work alongside experienced engineers, gain exposure to high-voltage technology and contribute to a wide variety of practical engineering activities.

The role offers scope to develop your technical knowledge and take on increasing responsibility as your experience grows.

Interested?

If you enjoy hands-on engineering and would like to be part of a team developing specialist high-voltage products, we’d be pleased to hear from you.

To apply, please send your CV and a brief introduction to bwalker@essex-x-ray.com.