Facebook Linkedin

Product Design Recruitment

CADagency specialises in recruiting CAD and design professionals for product design roles across manufacturing, consumer goods, furniture and commercial product environments. We work with design consultancies, in-house product teams and manufacturers across the UK, supplying designers who can take ideas from concept through to production.

Product design roles demand a balance of creativity, technical understanding and commercial awareness. Designers are often required to work across concept development, detailed design and manufacturing liaison, making software flexibility and problem solving critical to success.

By taking time to understand product type, production method and design workflow, we ensure candidates are aligned on both creative intent and technical delivery.

Roles We Recruit For Within Product Design

We regularly recruit across a range of product design-focused roles, including:

Product Designers
Designers responsible for concept generation, development and refinement.

Design Engineers
Professionals bridging product design and manufacture, supporting feasibility and cost efficiency.

Senior Product Designers
Experienced designers leading projects, mentoring teams and supporting technical decision making.

Lead Designers and Design Managers
Professionals overseeing product ranges, workflows and design standards.

Most product design candidates we place work across multiple software platforms, most commonly SolidWorks, Rhino and Autodesk Inventor.

Product Design Market Trends

Product design continues to evolve as businesses place greater emphasis on usability, sustainability and manufacturability.

There is growing demand for designers who can think beyond aesthetics and contribute to material selection, cost control and production efficiency. Employers are increasingly favouring candidates with exposure to real-world manufacturing constraints.

Hybrid working is now common across many product design roles, particularly where prototyping and production support can be balanced with remote design work.

Overall, demand remains strongest for adaptable product designers who can operate across concept, development and delivery rather than working in isolation.

Recruiting?

Derek Tesciuba

Director at CADagency, the CAD recruitment agency

Recruitment Consultant

derek@cadagency.co.uk

01245 790233

2026 Product Design Salary Insight

Based on Product Design sector respondents in the CADagency 2026 Salary Survey, average UK salaries sit as follows:

  • Junior Product Designers: £31,900

  • Intermediate Product Designers: £42,700

  • Senior Product Designers: £54,800

  • Lead Product Designers / Design Managers: £65,900

Salary progression in product design is closely linked to the ability to manage projects independently, contribute to manufacturing decisions and support products beyond initial concept stages.

London and the South East continue to offer the highest salaries overall. However, strong design-led hubs across the Midlands, North West and South West provide competitive opportunities, particularly for designers working closely with manufacturing.

Software usage: SolidWorks, Rhino and multi-software roles

Software flexibility is a clear differentiator within product design.

  • Product designers using SolidWorks reported an average salary of £48,600

  • Product designers using Rhino reported an average salary of £46,200

  • Designers working across multiple CAD platforms reported an average salary of £50,100

Multi-software capability is common within product design, particularly in furniture, consumer products and bespoke manufacturing environments. Designers using multiple platforms also reported higher job satisfaction and greater involvement in early-stage development work.

Training also remains a factor. Product designers who reported receiving job-related CAD training were less likely to be actively considering a job move and scored higher on how rewarding they found their role.