Design Automation Engineer - East Tāmaki

Design Automation Engineer (SolidWorks/DriveWorks) - Manufacturing (Auckland)

Salary: $100k - $130k + KiwiSaver (depending on experience)

Location: East Tāmaki, Auckland (with a South Island office in Christchurch)

Work type: Full time, Permanent

ABOUT HYDESTOR

Hydestor is a family-owned business that's been designing, manufacturing and installing custom shelving solutions and storage systems since 1989. 100% Kiwi-owned, we support some of New Zealand's leading businesses, schools, councils and museums, backed by modern sheet metal manufacturing through our sister company Metal Skills.

We are looking for a practical, structured engineer who enjoys building robust systems and seeing designs flow cleanly into production and who values being part of a tight-knit team where fit matters. This is a role for someone who wants to commit for the long term, learn fast, and grow with the business.

THE ROLE

This is a unique "build it right, then make it scalable" engineering role. You will support three interrelated streams:

  • Design migration: bringing legacy product families into modern, fully parametric CAD

  • Design automation: build a product configurator to generate production-ready outputs.

  • Production support: day-to-day customisations and troubleshooting with Sales + Production

Hydestor is aiming to fully automate the configuration and design of its 12+ product families with a long-term roadmap (migration is a multi-year journey). As this matures, the role will increasingly become the owner of the engineering processes, CAD database and engineering orders that keep serial production running smoothly.

WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING

  • Systematically migrate legacy product data into fully parametric CAD models

  • Build, test and troubleshoot design automation logic for sales and live production

  • Administer engineering workflows / PDM and maintain the integrity of the new product database

  • Maintain drawings, BOMs, configurations and technical documentation

  • Support Sales and Production with product customisations and production issues

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

Must-have:

  • Strong SolidWorks capability

  • Proven technical change management & revision control

  • Highly self-organised, structured, reliable

  • Clear communication with non-technical stakeholders

Ideal:

  • Experience with serial or small-series production (an understanding how minor design modifications can have significant impact on serial production and cost)

  • Practical sheet metal engineering knowledge (punching/cutting/bending)

  • Comfort building modular/complex BOMs and rule-based configuration logic

  • DriveWorks experience (or a strong appetite to learn fast)

Engineering here is lean and hands-on - you will have real ownership and will need to work confidently without constant direction.

WHY HYDESTOR:

Long-term, meaningful build: you are not just "drafting parts" - you will be building the design automation backbone that will fundamentally transform Hydestor's engineering processes to industry-leading standards.

Real-world engineering: modern sheet metal manufacturing, powder-coated steel systems, and designs that are installed and used across NZ (and beyond).

Skill growth: support to develop in DriveWorks / automation and become the go-to owner of Hydestor's in-house engineering systems.

Family-owned culture: team fit and attitude matter here. We are looking for someone who enjoys working with good people, takes pride in quality, and wants to grow with the company over the long haul.

We respectfully request no agency approaches

Apply now with your cover letter and CV via the link, or get in touch with our HR Partner, People Passion, for a confidential chat on 0800 HR FOR U.

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