Quality Engineer

Company Description

Sika is a specialty chemicals company with a globally leading position in the development and production of systems and products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing, and protection in the building sector and automotive industry. Sika has subsidiaries in 103 countries around the world and, in over 400 factories, produces innovative technologies for customers worldwide. In doing so, it plays a crucial role in enabling the transformation of the construction and vehicle industries toward greater environmental compatibility. With more than 33,000 employees, the company generated sales of CHF 11.2 billion in 2023.

Job Description

Sitting within the R&D function, the UK Quality team contributes to ensuring the quality of Sika products; maintaining the standards and certifications that we have worked hard to achieve. In the UK, Sika have offices in Welwyn Garden City, Preston, Leeds and Wishaw.

Purpose of the Role

This is an exciting opportunity to join a team leading the way within Sika, with goals of striving towards Quality 4.0. The Quality Engineer will provide continuous improvement for all departments and directly support the site Quality Manager. 

The Opportunity: 

This is a varied role where you will have the opportunity to:

• Lead your own continuous improvement projects
• Conduct investigations to successfully resolve batch issues and complaints
• Promote a quality culture across all areas of the business.

The ultimate aim is to improve the quality of Sika, its products, its services and the outcomes it creates, not only at Leeds but across the whole UK business.

The Rewards:

You will be rewarded with a competitive salary, and a sweep of great benefits. We pride ourselves on our total reward package:

• Holiday 25 days rising to 28 days with service, plus bank holidays
• 37.5 hours a week (8.00-16.30, some shift cover may be required)
• A company pension contribution of up to 10%
• Private healthcare for you, with option to add family
• Group life cover at 6x your annual salary
• Global Income Protection (PHI)
• Enhanced maternity and paternity pay
• Selected discounted Sika products

The Support:

You will have the opportunity to work alongside the existing team at Leeds as well as the wider Quality team across the UK. This is a diverse group with a range of experience and a commitment to improving manufacturing quality. Our people and teams are our most important asset – we will continue to ensure that the contribution of every individual is made to count and valued accordingly.

You will be provided with a detailed induction plan, receiving one-to-one training initially and then be given the opportunity to increase autonomy in line with self-development. We are committed to professional and personal development.

The Skills:

We are looking for a pro-active individual from a quality, R&D or process chemistry background: We want you to use your existing knowledge and experience to challenge the status quo, identify improvement opportunities and drive them to completion, with the aim of improving operational efficiency and delivering value to the business.

The Future: 

This position will allow the successful candidate to progress into a variety of roles across numerous business areas within a global company

Qualifications

• A degree in chemistry/chemical engineering or equivalent industry experience (essential)
• Have aspirations to advance to a Quality Management role, demonstrating commitment to growth and leadership in quality assurance
• 4-5 years of experience of working in a QC/R&D laboratory (essential)
• A proactive approach to EHS (essential)
• Experience in MS suites and statistical-based software tools (essential)
• Track record of managing projects and delivering to schedule (essential)
• Experience of using SAP (essential)
• 3-5 years in manufacturing
• Experience in lean and six sigma approach to problem solving (desirable)
• Experience, or knowledge in, using and creating databases and python (desirable)
• Trained in internal auditing (desirable)
• Good interpersonal skills – able to form good working relationships with other departments

We would encourage applications from those already working in a Quality function, as well as R&D/Process Chemists looking for first-hand experience in an operations environment.