Junior Designer (Construction / AutoCAD)
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Junior Designer (Bespoke / AutoCAD)
£32,000 - £38,000 + Training + Progression + Life Insurance + Private Medical + Enhanced Holidays + Travel + Company Benefits
Hertford (Office Based)
Are you a Junior CAD Designer from a sheet metal or structural steel background, looking to join a well-established manufacturer who will provide training and opportunities to travel?
This is a fantastic opportunity to join a stable, highly respected business offering long-term progression and exposure to a wide range of complex, high-quality manufactured projects across the UK and Europe. This company have worked on highly recognised projects such as sports stadiums, museums, and manufacturing facilities like Rolls Royce and JLR.
You will play a key role in producing accurate and practical designs using AutoCAD and SolidWorks, working closely with internal teams, customers, and suppliers around the UK and Europe. This is a hands-on role where you will take ownership of projects from concept through to manufacture and installation.
This position is ideal for someone with a background in sheet metal, structural steel, or curtain walling, looking to further develop their career within a forward-thinking engineering environment.
The Role:
- Produce general arrangement and detailed manufacturing drawings
* Create installation drawings and bills of quantities
* Carry out dimensional site surveys (UK and occasional Europe)
* Attend design meetings with customers and stakeholders
* Coordinate designs with suppliers and internal teams
* Ensure drawings are accurate and suitable for manufacture
The Person:
- Background in sheet metal, structural steel, or curtain walling
* AutoCAD experience
* Full UK driving licence and willingness to travel
If you are interested, click 'apply now' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV.
Reference Number: BBBH24466d
Keywords: CAD Designer, Junior Designer, Junior, Design Engineer, AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Sheet Metal, Sheet Metal Design, Fabrication, Manufacturing Design, Structural Steel, Curtain Walling, Cladding, Engineering Drawings, Acoustics
We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitable candidates. The salary advertised is a guideline for this position. The offered remuneration will be dependent on the extent of your experience, qualifications, and skill set.
Ernest Gordon Recruitment Limited acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and employment business for the supply of temporary workers. By applying for this job, you accept the T&C's, Privacy Policy and Disclaimers which can be found at our website.
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Lead with AutoCAD and SolidWorks in your CV's skills section and personal statement — both tools are explicitly listed as core requirements in the advert.
📊 Quantify your drawing output: e.g. 'Produced 40+ general arrangement and manufacturing drawings for structural steel assemblies across 3 live projects'.
🎯 Highlight any experience in sheet metal, structural steel, or curtain walling prominently under each relevant role — the advert lists these as the primary background requirements.
🌐 Mention any site survey experience or travel to client/supplier sites, as the role involves UK and occasional European dimensional surveys.
🤝 Reference collaboration with internal teams, customers, or suppliers in your bullet points — the advert specifically calls out cross-functional coordination as a key responsibility.
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Produced 35+ AutoCAD general arrangement and detailed manufacturing drawings for structural steel assemblies, achieving zero dimensional errors on 3 consecutive client sign-offs.
- •Conducted dimensional site surveys across 6 UK locations, translating field measurements into SolidWorks models that reduced fabrication queries by 20% during production.
- •Coordinated sheet metal design revisions with 4 suppliers and internal production teams, compressing drawing-to-manufacture lead time from 10 days to 7 days on a bespoke cladding contract.
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Letter preview — tailored to Ernest Gordon Recruitment Limited
Dear Hiring Manager,
The Junior Designer role at Ernest Gordon Recruitment's client in Hertford stands out as the natural next step in my CAD career. With hands-on experience in AutoCAD and a background in sheet metal fabrication, I am well placed to produce accurate general arrangement and manufacturing drawings for the complex, high-quality projects this business is known for — including work on sports stadiums and facilities for manufacturers such as Rolls Royce.
My background in engineering design has equipped me with the technical grounding to take drawings from initial concept through to manufacture-ready documentation. I have coordinated with suppliers and internal production teams to resolve design clashes early, reducing rework on a recent structural steel project by an estimated 15%. I am comfortable conducting dimensional site surveys and translating field measurements into precise installation drawings under tight programme constraints.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Walk us through your AutoCAD workflow when producing a general arrangement drawing from a client brief.
- ›How have you used SolidWorks to model sheet metal or structural components, and what constraints did you work within?
- ›Describe how you would carry out a dimensional site survey and translate measurements into accurate manufacturing drawings.
- ›What checks do you apply to ensure a drawing is suitable for manufacture before issuing it to the shop floor?
- ›How do you manage drawing revisions when design changes are requested mid-project by a customer or supplier?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you took ownership of a project from concept through to completion — what challenges did you face?
- ›Describe a situation where you identified an error in a drawing before it reached manufacture. What did you do?
- ›Give an example of when you had to coordinate with multiple stakeholders (customers, suppliers, internal teams) on a single design. How did you manage conflicting requirements?
- ›Tell me about a time you had to learn a new technical skill or software quickly to meet a project deadline.
- ›Describe a situation where you had to travel or work away from your usual location. How did you prepare and adapt?
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Describe a situation where you identified an error in a drawing before it reached manufacture. What did you do?
Tell me about a time you had to coordinate with multiple stakeholders on a single design. How did you manage conflicting requirements?