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 travelling 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.

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 standardisation 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 organisational and prioritisation skills.
• Full UK driving licence.

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 fibre-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 organisation 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

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