DS Smith
Technical Specialist-1
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Help Shape the Future of Technical Excellence at DS Smith
At DS Smith, we're redefining how we support our customers through innovation, collaboration, and operational excellence. We are establishing a brand-new Technical Specialist team that will play a critical role in supporting our packaging operations, enhancing customer performance, and driving continuous improvement across our network.
This is an exciting opportunity to be part of something new. As a Cluster Technical Specialist, you will help develop and shape a key role within the business, working across nine packaging sites while acting as the trusted technical partner for our customers.
If you thrive on solving complex manufacturing challenges, building strong customer relationships, and influencing positive change, we'd love to hear from you.
About the Role
The Cluster Technical Specialist is a highly visible customer-facing role responsible for supporting customers and manufacturing sites by providing expert technical guidance, identifying risks before they become issues, and coordinating effective solutions when challenges arise.
Working remotely and traveling extensively across your allocated sites and customers, you will become the technical bridge between our customers and manufacturing operations, helping to ensure product performance, quality, and customer confidence remain at the highest level.
Operating to the principle of:
"Own the technical relationship, influence the resolution."
You will work closely with Quality, Operations, Design, Sales, and Innovation teams to proactively address technical challenges while helping to build a culture of continuous improvement across the business.
What You’ll be doing
Customer Technical Support
- Act as the first technical point of contact for customer product performance, quality, and manufacturing concerns.
- Conduct technical investigations and root cause analysis using structured methodologies such as 8D and RCA.
- Visit customer sites to identify and mitigate technical risks before they develop into customer complaints.
- Build trusted relationships with customer operations, engineering, and quality teams.
- Deliver technical guidance and practical training to support customer packaging line performance.
- Support new product introductions and customer onboarding activities.
- Maintain accurate records of customer visits, actions, technical findings, and risk assessments.
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Operational Improvement
- Drive improvements in product consistency, quality, and manufacturing performance.
- Lead and support customer trials. – Support customer trials as required (operations/quality own production trials)
- Identify trends, recurring issues, and improvement opportunities across multiple sites.
- Provide design-for-runnability feedback to Design and Manufacturing teams.
- Work with external suppliers, including tooling, print plate, and form manufacturers, to improve product performance.
Technical Intelligence & Continuous Improvement
- Gather technical insight from customers, operations, quality, design, and sales teams.
- Identify emerging technical risks and share learnings across the network.
- Track technical issues through to resolution while maintaining clear customer communication.
- Support product simplification and standardization initiatives.
- Contribute to a proactive, preventative approach to quality and technical performance.
Collaboration
- Partner with Innovation Specialists on customer development opportunities.
- Work closely with Sales, Design, Production, and Quality teams.
- Share best practice across the wider technical community.
- Maintain a proactive balance of approximately 60% preventative activity and 40% reactive support.
About you
We're looking for a well-rounded technical professional who combines strong manufacturing expertise with excellent customer and stakeholder management skills. You'll enjoy building relationships, solving technical challenges, and driving continuous improvement across multiple sites. Excited by the opportunity to join a newly created team, you'll play a key role in shaping technical support within DS Smith, influencing best practice, and making a real impact on customer satisfaction, product quality, and operational performance, while further developing your own technical and leadership capabilities.
Essential Skills & Experience
- Significant experience within a manufacturing environment, ideally corrugated packaging.
- Strong operational, technical, or quality background.
- Proven experience solving technical and process challenges.
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
- Ability to influence teams and drive action without direct authority.
- Experience using structured problem-solving techniques such as 8D or Root Cause Analysis.
- Strong organizational and prioritization skills.
- Full UK driving license.
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Qualifications
- Corrugated packaging manufacturing experience.
- Knowledge of corrugator and conversion processes, including printing, die-cutting, and gluing/folding operations.
- Customer-facing technical support experience.
- Six Sigma, Lean, or Continuous Improvement qualifications.
- ISO 9001 or BRCGS Packaging Materials knowledge.
- Experience working with CRM, QMS, or ERP systems.
- Degree qualification in Engineering, Packaging, Manufacturing, Design, or a related discipline.
Benefits
- Competitive salary
- Discretionary bonus
- 25 days’ holiday plus bank holidays
- Pension scheme, life assurance, and income protection
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Employee Discounts
- Cycle to work scheme
Location
Remote with UK Travel – Supporting designated DS Smith sites and focus customers.
Hours
Monday to Friday – 09:00 – 17:00
About us
We are DS Smith, together with International Paper, we are a global leader in sustainable packaging solutions and other fiber-based products. We believe a better, more sustainable tomorrow is possible with the right people, who challenge and support one another to enact positive change. We employ more than 65,000 colleagues in North America and Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), who are experts in innovation, manufacturing, design, sales, sustainability, supply chain, and much more. Together with our customers, we make the world safer and more productive, one sustainable packaging solution at a time. Become part of a world-leading organization and do your best work with us!
Fair recruitment at DS Smith
To fulfil our purpose of redefining packaging for a changing world, we aim to build a diverse, motivated, and engaged workforce. Our goal is to create a culture of inclusion where everyone is treated fairly, differences are valued, and everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed.
Our people come from diverse backgrounds, bring different perspectives, ideas, and experiences to generate unique solutions focused on present and future sustainability challenges. We welcome all candidates to apply, even those not meeting all criteria #LI-CE
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