Design Engineering Recruitment

CADagency specialises in recruiting CAD and design engineering professionals across manufacturing, product design and engineering-led environments. We work with businesses across the UK, supporting product developers, manufacturers and engineering consultancies with technically capable design engineers.

Our focus is on roles that sit at the intersection of CAD and engineering, where designers are expected to contribute beyond drawing production and into problem solving, optimisation and delivery. By understanding how design engineering fits into your wider workflow, we ensure candidates are aligned on both technical ability and working style.

Roles We Recruit For Within Design Engineering

We regularly recruit across a range of design engineering roles, including:

Design Engineers
Responsible for concept development, 3D modelling, simulation and design optimisation.

CAD Technicians
Supporting detailed drawing production, revisions and technical documentation.

Project and Product Engineers
Overseeing design workflows, coordinating with manufacturing and ensuring delivery against project milestones.

The majority of candidates we place within design engineering roles use SolidWorks or Inventor as their primary design tool, often alongside AutoCAD or other supporting software.

Design Engineering Market Trends

SolidWorks and Inventor continue to dominate within design engineering roles and appear consistently across the Engineering sector responses in the 2026 survey.

Design engineers using these platforms tend to report higher levels of job satisfaction than the wider CAD market. On average, Engineering-sector respondents using SolidWorks or Inventor rated their roles 4 out of 5 for how rewarding they find their work, reflecting the hands-on and problem-solving nature of design engineering roles.

Training also plays a key role. Just over half of design engineers using SolidWorks or Inventor reported receiving job-related training, either formally or through structured on-the-job development. Those who received training were significantly more likely to feel valued by their employer and less likely to be actively looking for a move.

Where movement is being considered, the most common motivators are career progression and exposure to more interesting or complex projects, rather than salary alone. This is particularly true at intermediate and senior level, where engineers are more selective about the roles they pursue.

Derek Tesciuba

Recruitment Consultant

derek@cadagency.co.uk

01245 790233

2026 Design Engineering Salary Insight

Based on respondents working within design engineering roles in the CADagency 2026 Employment Survey, average UK salaries sit as follows:

Junior Design Engineers: £32,800
Typically supporting concept development, detailed CAD work and basic simulation under supervision.
Intermediate Design Engineers: £41,900
Responsible for full design ownership, detailed modelling, design for manufacture and regular project involvement.
Senior Design Engineers: £52,700
Often leading projects, reviewing designs, mentoring junior engineers and working closely with manufacturing or clients.
Design Managers and Technical Leads: £61,900
Senior roles combining technical oversight, workflow management and commercial responsibility.

Salary progression within design engineering is closely tied to responsibility, exposure to manufacturing and the ability to bridge design intent with real-world constraints rather than job title alone.

Software Impact On Salary

Software capability continues to influence earnings within design engineering:

Designers using SolidWorks report an average salary of £43,200
Designers using Autodesk Inventor report an average salary of £44,600
Candidates using both SolidWorks and Inventor earn approximately £3,800 more on average than those using a single platform

Multi-software capability is most common at intermediate and senior level and is increasingly viewed as a baseline expectation rather than a differentiator.

Training And Development

Training remains an important factor in salary and retention:

52% of design engineers reported receiving job-related training
Trained respondents earned, on average, £4,100 more than those without training
Training is most commonly focused on advanced modelling, simulation, design for manufacture and process optimisation

Job Satisfaction And Retention

Design engineering roles continue to score well for satisfaction:

63% describe their role as rewarding or very rewarding
60% feel appreciated in their current position
When considering a move, design engineers prioritise progression, technical challenge and project quality alongside salary