Metallurgical and Process Quality Engineer

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Metallurgical and Process Quality Engineer
Birmingham

The Company

We are Cooksongold, and we’ve been proudly supporting jewellers since 1918, with everything from precious metals to jewellery tools. We are part of HM Precious Metals, one of Europe's largest refiners and processors of precious metals. Based in the heart of the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter, we are a friendly, well-established and growing business of over 250 employees. We are highly rated by our customers – we were awarded a Feefo Trusted Platinum Service Award for 2024 as a result of our excellent customer feedback ratings.

As our Metallurgical and Process Quality Engineer, you will play a vital, practical role supporting manufacturing operations, with particular focus on melting, alloying, casting and downstream processing of precious metal alloys. You will investigate product and process issues, establish root causes, and support effective corrective and preventive actions to ensure products meet internal, customer and regulatory requirements. This is an ideal position for someone who enjoys working directly with production teams and applying metallurgical knowledge on the shop floor to improve quality, consistency and yield.

Key Responsibilities:

As our new Metallurgy & Quality Process Engineer, you will:

- Provide day-to-day metallurgical and process quality support to melting, alloying, casting and subsequent processing operations.
- Work routinely on the shop floor with operators, supervisors and production teams to investigate recurring or complex manufacturing issues.
- Assess how alloy composition, melting and casting conditions, heat treatment, rolling, annealing, drawing and finishing affect product quality and process variation.
- Investigate customer enquiries, internal non-conformances and process issues, including cracking, porosity, inclusions, contamination, impurities, grain structure abnormalities, surface defects and mechanical failures.
- Perform and interpret metallurgical and validation testing, including metallographic sample preparation, optical microscopy, etching, porosity and grain structure assessment, hardness and tensile testing, and surface roughness measurement.
- Apply structured root cause analysis to distinguish between material, process, equipment and operational causes, and take ownership of investigations through corrective action and verification.
- Review alloy and product specifications, manufacturing processes and process parameters against internal, customer, regulatory and relevant standard requirements.
- Support CAPA, non-conformance and customer complaint investigations, as well as internal and external audits requiring metallurgical or process quality expertise.
- Analyse quality and production data, support manufacturing trials and process improvements, and document technical findings and recommendations clearly for Production, Quality, R&D and customers.

About you

The ideal candidate will have:

- A degree in Metallurgy, Materials Science, Materials Engineering or a related field (Desirable)
- Strong knowledge of physical metallurgy and the relationship between composition, microstructure, processing and material properties.
- Demonstrable experience applying metallurgical knowledge in a metal manufacturing environment, including melting, alloying, solidification and casting, with an understanding of rolling, annealing, drawing, forming, heat treatment and finishing.
- Practical experience in metallurgical testing, material analysis and failure investigation, including optical microscopy, etching, hardness and tensile testing, and metallographic sample preparation.
- The ability to interpret alloy specifications and test results against customer and standard requirements and translate technical findings into practical manufacturing solutions.
- The confidence to work closely with operators, supervisors and production management, with clear technical reporting and communication skills.
- A practical, accountable and collaborative approach, with the ability to manage multiple investigations and changing production priorities.
- Experience in precious metals, jewellery manufacturing, non-ferrous metals or foundry operations, and knowledge of gold, silver, platinum and palladium alloys would be advantageous.

Benefits

We offer a well-balanced working environment with a competitive salary package and excellent benefits which support employees at every stage of their career.

Join us as we continue to grow and set new standards for the jewellery industry!

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