Midlands Archives | KO2 Recruitment

Mechanical Assembly Technician

Location: Birmingham – Onsite
Rate: up to £30 per hour, outside IR35
Contract length: 3 months

An innovative Birmingham based electronics business requires a Mechanical Assembly Technician to support a production ramp up ahead of a manufacturing handover to a third party.

You’ll be working as part of a small team assembling a compact electro-mechanical product. The product consists of a metal and plastic housing with a mounted electronic PCB and requires mechanical assembly, calibration and quality checks.

This is an onsite role for 3 months, ideal for a hands-on assembly technician who can come in, follow established processes, and deliver consistent, high quality assembly work with minimal supervision.

Key responsibilities:

Mechanical assembly using hand tools (tightening bolts, mounting components, small press operation)
Installing pre-built electronic PCBs (no soldering required)
Carrying out calibration and functional testing procedures
Performing QC inspections and verifying measurements
Using metrology equipment (e.g. dimensional and surface measurement tools)
Completing production documentation
Providing practical feedback to support process improvement

Production output is targeted at approximately 20 units per week.

Key Skills and Experience needed:

2 to 3 years hands-on assembly, production or workshop experience
Mechanically minded and confident using tools
Experience in an electro-mechanical or electronics environment preferred
Familiar with ESD procedures and quality control processes
Comfortable following structured build instructions for full working days (7.5 hours)
Reliable, detail-focused and able to get up to speed quickly

This role is best suited to someone with practical industry experience rather than a purely academic background.

If you’re an experienced Mechanical assembly technician looking for your next contract role, please get in touch.

Electronics Technician

Electronics Technician

Location: Warwick (Office Based)

Salary: Up to £40,000 DOE

KO2 is working with an innovative electronics company based in Warwick that is developing a range of new electronic devices. They are looking for an Electronics Technician to join a small, highly skilled project team.

This is an office-based role within a modern, well-equipped facility, offering hands-on technical work and the chance work on a variety of projects.

The Role

You will be heavily involved in the electrical build of prototypes, working with a mix of pre-existing and newly sourced components. Your primary focus will be on wiring, interconnection, and harness creation.

As detailed design drawings are not available, this role suits someone who is self-sufficient, practical, and confident working things out independently, while collaborating closely with the wider engineering team when needed.

Key responsibilities include:

Electrical build of an industrial prototype
Designing and assembling wiring harnesses and cable looms
Sourcing components and connectors as required
Wiring and interconnecting electrical components
Documenting wiring harness designs and build processes
Reworking PCBs, including small surface mount components (desirable)

Skills & Experience Required

Experience reworking PCBs with small surface mount components
Proven experience in wiring harness and cable loom manufacturing
Ability to produce wiring harnesses to a professional standard
Confidence sourcing electrical components and connectors
Strong documentation skills for wiring and build processes
Experience within the medical devices sector (desirable)

Why Apply?

Work on a cutting-edge industrial product at prototype stage
Join a small, collaborative project team
Modern working environment in Warwick
Competitive salary of £40,000
Office-based, hands-on technical role with real impact

If you’re an Electronics Technician who enjoys problem-solving, autonomy, and prototype development, this is an excellent opportunity to make your mark.

Apply now or contact KO2 Recruitment for more information.

Senior Electronics Engineer

January 23, 2026/in Midlands, South Permanent /by Chris Oddy

Senior Electronics Engineer

Salary: Up to £85,000
Location: Cambridge (Hybrid – 1 day per week from home)

KO2’s client is a highly respected, product-led company at the forefront of regulated technology development. They’re looking for a Senior Electronics Engineer to join a collaborative, forward-thinking engineering team working on complex, high-impact products.

This role is ideal for an engineer with strong experience across analogue and digital electronics, multilayer PCB design, firmware and an interest in FPGA development. You’ll be involved throughout the product lifecycle, contributing to innovative solutions in a highly regulated environment where precision, quality, and compliance truly matter.

The Role

Design and develop analogue and digital electronic systems for regulated products
Design multilayer PCB’s
Contribute to firmware development
Work within structured, compliant development processes
Collaborate closely with multidisciplinary engineering teams
Contribute to FPGA development as part of cutting-edge product designs

What They’re Looking For

A strong background in analogue and digital electronics
Experience with, or a genuine interest in, FPGA design using Verilog
A mindset suited to regulated industries, with a focus on quality, documentation, and compliance
Ability to work within a collaborative team environment

This is a fantastic opportunity for an Electronics Engineer who enjoys solving complex problems, working on meaningful products, and thriving in environments where engineering excellence is essential.

Benefits Package

Profit share (including a tax-free element)
26 days holiday + bank holidays + buy/sell options
9% employer pension contribution from day one
Private medical insurance
Death in service & income protection

Apply today to KO2’s client and play a key role in shaping the future of innovative, regulated product design.

Embedded Software Team Lead

January 7, 2026/in Midlands Permanent /by Chris Oddy

Job Title: Embedded Software Team Leader

Location: Nottingham

Salary: Up to £75,000

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an Embedded Software Team Leader to join a technology-driven business based in Nottingham. This role is ideal for an experienced embedded engineer who still enjoys being technically hands-on, while also leading and developing a small, high-performing team.

You will combine embedded software development with day-to-day technical leadership, guiding a team of five engineers and playing a key role in shaping architecture, standards, and delivery across multiple embedded projects.

The Role

As Embedded Software Team Leader, you will remain deeply involved in hands-on development while providing technical direction, mentoring, and support to your team. You’ll work closely with hardware, systems, and product stakeholders to deliver robust, high-quality embedded solutions.

Key Responsibilities

Lead firmware delivery across multiple projects, from project estimation and technical risk assessment through to implementation and release
Remain hands-on in embedded software development across active projects
Produce and review firmware estimates, schedules, and work packages, balancing accuracy, speed, and commercial reality
Define and maintain software architecture, coding standards, and best practices
Contribute to requirements definition, technical planning, and estimations
Perform code reviews and support continuous improvement
Collaborate with hardware, systems, and test teams to deliver integrated solutions
Support project delivery, balancing technical excellence with timelines

About You

Strong background in embedded C/C++ development
Experience working Bare metal, RTOS and/or linux platforms.
Proven experience providing technical leadership or mentoring within an engineering team
Comfortable balancing hands-on engineering with leadership responsibilities
Good understanding of software development lifecycles and version control (e.g. Git)
Strong communication skills and a collaborative leadership style

Desirable Experience

Exposure to regulated, safety-critical, or high-reliability systems
Experience with Agile or modern development methodologies
Experience designing and delivering secure, cyber-resilient embedded systems

Why Join?

Hands-on technical leadership role — not a pure management position
Opportunity to shape and grow an embedded software team
Work on a range of technically challenging and impactful products
Supportive engineering culture with clear progression opportunities
Hybrid working available

Location

This role is based in Nottingham, offering excellent transport links and a strong local tech community.

If you’re an experienced embedded engineer ready to take the next step into hands-on technical leadership, or an experienced team leader looking for a new challenge this is an excellent opportunity to make a real impact.

Apply now or contact KO2 Embedded Recruitment Solutions for more information.

Senior Firmware Engineer

December 18, 2025/in Midlands Permanent /by Chris Oddy

Senior Firmware Engineer

Salary: Up to £70,000 DOE + Benefits
Location: Nottingham

KO2’s client is looking to add an experienced Senior Firmware Engineer to their growing engineering team. This is a technically focused senior role, offering a strong balance of hands-on embedded development (around 70%) alongside technical leadership (around 30%).

This opportunity suits an engineer who enjoys staying close to the code while also influencing architecture, project delivery, and technical direction.

You’ll be working on the development of embedded firmware across a range of platforms, contributing to system architecture, guiding project approach, and ensuring high standards of delivery. While this isn’t a purely managerial position, it does include responsibility for technical leadership, mentoring, and some line management.

Responsibilities

Hands-on development of embedded firmware using C
Working across bare-metal, RTOS, and embedded Linux environments
Contributing to and owning aspects of software system architecture
Setting technical direction, standards, and best practice
Supporting project estimation, planning, and delivery approach
Monitoring progress to ensure work is delivered to the required quality, time, and budget
Providing technical leadership and mentoring to engineers
Conducting 1-to-1s and line management where required
Collaborating with hardware, systems, and wider engineering teams

Experience Required

Strong commercial experience in embedded C / firmware development
Background working on bare-metal, RTOS, and Linux-based systems
Experience contributing to firmware or software architecture
Comfortable balancing hands-on development with leadership responsibilities
Able to estimate work and support technical project delivery
Strong communication skills and a collaborative mindset

What’s on Offer

Salary up to £70k DOE
A senior technical role with genuine influence
A strong mix of coding and leadership
Opportunity to work on complex embedded systems within a growing team

If you’re a Senior Firmware Engineer looking for a role that still values deep technical contribution alongside leadership, please apply or contact KO2 for more information.

Embedded Software Engineer

December 8, 2025/in Midlands, South Permanent /by Chris Oddy

Embedded Software Engineer

Hybrid – One day every fortnight in Milton Keynes

£45,000 – £60,000

KO2’s client is looking for an Embedded Software Engineer to join their R&D team. The role is hybrid, with on-site time set at one day every fortnight. There are no fixed weekly office requirements.

You’ll work on embedded software for digitally controlled power supplies, writing Embedded C for bare-metal microcontrollers. The system uses two micros: one for the PFC stage and one for the inverter and final DC stage. You’ll take ownership of one of these areas and contribute to the wider embedded software development within the team.

You’ll also work alongside a Senior Embedded Software Engineer who will provide mentoring where needed. The client is open to applicants from junior through to senior level, as long as you can demonstrate solid skills in embedded software development. Power electronics experience is not required, but you should be comfortable with basic electronics.

What you’ll work on:

• Embedded C on bare metal

• Control software for digitally managed power supplies

• One of two microcontroller stages (PFC or inverter/DC stage)

• Collaboration with an experienced senior engineer on core embedded software tasks

Skills/ Experience needed:

• Strong Embedded C skills

• Embedded bare-metal or RTOS experience

• Interest in power-related products

• Ability to read electronic schematics and use lab equipment (bench PSU, oscilloscope)

• Experience with Git and Agile

If you want to work on real hardware, grow your embedded software skills, and join a flexible engineering team, this role will suit you well.

Electronics Technician (Contract)

December 1, 2025/in Midlands, South Contract /by Chris Oddy

Contract Electronics Technician – £50 per hour (Outside IR35)

6 months initially
Onsite in Peterborough
Long-term, stable contract supporting an established product line

The Role

An established engineering company with a long-standing and proven product range is seeking an Electronics Technician for an onsite contract role in Peterborough. This position offers £50 per hour, operates outside IR35, and is ideal for a hands-on technician who enjoys practical electronic test, investigation and hardware support work.

You will be working directly on a mature, ruggedised product range, carrying out diagnostics, test, fault-finding and hardware improvements using industry-standard tools and instrumentation. This is a workshop-focused role, supporting ongoing product reliability and performance.

Responsibilities

Hands-on electronics technician work on established products
Troubleshooting, diagnostics and root-cause investigation
Instrumenting, testing and modifying existing hardware
Using multimeters, oscilloscopes, spectrum analysers and other test gear
Working closely with engineering colleagues to support system behaviour
Soldering, rework and practical workshop tasks as needed
Reviewing schematics and understanding hardware layouts

Skills & Experience

Strong practical electronics technician background
Confident using multimeters, oscilloscopes, spectrum analysers & general lab equipment
Experience with hardware fault-finding and hands-on test work
Ability to work independently onsite within a small engineering team
Confident reading schematics and performing rework
Experience with Raspberry Pi or STM32-based systems beneficial but not essential

If you’re a hands-on Electronics Technician looking for a well-structured and rewarding contract role, apply now with your latest CV.

Electronics Engineer

November 14, 2025/in Midlands, South Permanent /by Chris Oddy

Electronics Engineer
Location: Peterborough

Salary: £45,000 to £50,000 + Bonus

KO2’s client is a specialist engineering business in Peterborough that designs and develops complex, rugged machines built to operate reliably in harsh and demanding environments. With a small and focused R&D team, they are now looking for an Electronics Engineer to support the ongoing improvement and maintenance of an established product range.

This role is ideal for an engineer early in their career who enjoys practical, hands-on work, troubleshooting, and getting deeply familiar with existing hardware. You will work closely with an experienced hardware engineer to understand product architecture, investigate issues, and implement hardware-related improvements. The work is varied, workshop-focused, and centres on problem solving rather than designing brand-new PCBs from scratch.

There is also potential to support a new product development programme being run from their Bristol team, depending on workload and your interests.

Role Overview
• Continuous improvement and maintenance of current ruggedised products
• Hands-on troubleshooting, fault investigation and root-cause analysis
• Instrumenting, testing and modifying existing hardware to resolve issues
• Engaging with firmware and software colleagues to support system-level behaviour
• Interacting with Raspberry Pi and STM32-based architectures
• Prototyping, soldering and workshop tasks when needed
• Understanding existing schematics, system layouts and hardware behaviours

Skills and Experience
• Degree in electronics or a closely related discipline, or equivalent experience
• Knowledge of Raspberry Pi and STM32-based hardware platforms
• Comfortable working hands-on with electronics: multimeters, oscilloscopes, soldering and instrumentation
• Able to engage with firmware and software at a basic level (no full coding expected)
• Strong troubleshooting mindset and a practical approach to problem solving
• Suitable for someone with roughly two to four years’ experience or a capable junior engineer
• Driving licence required due to site location

Package
• Salary between £45,000 and £50,000 depending on experience
• Exceptional performance-based bonus scheme, typically delivering between one and two months’ pay in recent years
• Onsite role with free parking

Apply today with an up-to-date CV and a member of the KO2 team will be in touch to progress your application.

Embedded Software Engineer

November 6, 2025/in Midlands Permanent /by Chris Oddy

Embedded Software Engineer

Salary: Up to £45,000 + Flexible Hybrid Working
Location: Birmingham (3 days onsite, 2 days WFH)

KO2’s client, a pioneering technology company at the forefront of smart water management and operational efficiency, is looking for an experienced Embedded Software Engineer to join their innovative and collaborative engineering team in Birmingham.

This is an exciting opportunity to take ownership of embedded software design and development across a range of real-time, microcontroller-based systems. You’ll work on products that have a genuine environmental impact — improving how critical resources are managed globally.

The Role

As an Embedded Software Engineer, you’ll play a key role in the full development lifecycle, from concept through to testing and deployment.
You’ll be responsible for developing efficient, reliable, and maintainable embedded code that interacts closely with custom electronics and sensor systems.

Key Responsibilities:

Design, develop, and maintain embedded software in C/C++ for STM32 or ARM-based microcontrollers
Implement and optimise applications running on RTOS platforms
Work with serial communication protocols such as SPI, I2C, UART, and CAN
Support board bring-up, debugging, and hardware/software integration
Collaborate closely with hardware, firmware, and test engineers to deliver robust embedded solutions
Participate in design reviews, code reviews, and continuous improvement initiatives

Skills & Experience

Hands-on experience with embedded C/C++ development
Proven experience developing firmware for STM32 or similar 32-bit microcontrollers
Experience working with RTOS-based systems
Proficiency in debugging and hardware bring-up using oscilloscopes, logic analysers, and JTAG tools
Familiarity with serial communication protocols (SPI, I2C, UART, CAN)
Comfortable working through the full development lifecycle – from concept to production

Desirable:

Experience with low-power or sensor-based embedded systems
Knowledge of analogue/digital circuit design and PCB-level debugging
Exposure to version control and CI/CD tools (Git, Jira, etc.)

Why Join?

Work on meaningful, environmentally impactful projects
Be part of a growing, collaborative engineering team
Enjoy hybrid working (typically 3 days onsite, 2 from home)
Competitive salary and benefits, with opportunities for technical progression

If you’re an Embedded Software Engineer with a passion for real-time systems, microcontrollers, and innovative embedded solutions, apply today or contact Laurence Powell at KO2 Embedded Recruitment Solutions for more details.

Electronics Engineer

October 20, 2025/in Midlands Permanent /by Chris Oddy

Hardware Design – Nottingham – £45,000 to £52,000

KO2’s client, an innovative technology company based in Nottingham, specialises in the design and development of complex ultrasonic measurement systems used in non-destructive testing (NDT) applications. They are seeking a skilled electronics engineer with strong hardware design experience to contribute to the next generation of precision instrumentation.

The Role

This is a hands-on position for an electronics engineer who enjoys working across the full hardware development lifecycle — from initial concept and circuit design through to prototype validation and final production support. You’ll collaborate closely with multidisciplinary teams, including embedded software and mechanical engineers, to bring complex electronic systems to life.

The role is fully onsite in Nottingham, providing excellent access to labs, test equipment, and the wider engineering team.

Key Responsibilities

Design and prototype hardware for advanced ultrasonic measurement systems.
Produce schematic capture and manage multi-layer PCB layouts (2–8 layers, mixed-signal).
Integrate a variety of technologies including microcontrollers, microprocessors, RF circuitry, analog front ends, DC-DC and AC-DC power supplies, FPGAs, and sensors.
Validate and debug hardware using oscilloscopes, logic analysers, and other lab tools.
Apply DFT, DFM, and DFP principles throughout the design and manufacturing process.
Review and improve electronic designs for performance, reliability, and manufacturability.
Provide technical support to customers and internal stakeholders when required.

Skills & Experience Required

Degree in Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
At least 4 years’ experience in an electronic hardware design role.
Strong understanding of mixed-signal design principles.
Proficiency in Altium Designer (or similar tools such as KiCAD, Eagle, Fusion, or PADS).
Experienced in test, validation, and debugging of PCB-based systems.
Familiar with IoT, instrumentation, or embedded electronics environments.
Solid understanding of EMC, DfC, DFT, DFM, and DFP best practices.

About You

The ideal electronics engineer will be detail-oriented, methodical, and enthusiastic about delivering reliable, high-performance designs. You’ll be confident working independently while collaborating closely with colleagues across disciplines. Strong communication and documentation skills are essential.

What’s on Offer

Salary: £50,000 – £55,000 (depending on experience)
Private health insurance for you and your immediate family
Pension and life assurance schemes
Supportive, technically driven environment
Opportunity to work on cutting-edge ultrasonic electronics with real-world industrial applications

If you’re an electronics engineer looking to make a tangible impact in advanced measurement technology, this is an exciting opportunity to join a company pushing the boundaries of precision hardware design.