23733 - Plastics Specialist

Ministry of Justice UK•National City, CA

8d•£54,148 - £59,366•Hybrid

About The Position

The Plastics Specialist is a national, HQ-based, non-operational role without line management, supporting the Prison Industries HQ Plastics Strategy across HMPPS establishments in England and Wales. The role translates strategic direction into practical site-level activity, coordinating plastics orders and production delivery while ensuring agreed stock levels and business requirements are met. It provides technical expertise on plastics product design, tooling and workshop setup, and leads implementation of approved product designs, development, costing and technical specifications, including tooling requirements. The post supports prison workshops that provide purposeful activity and work-based training for prisoners. Responsibilities include coordinating materials, machines, logistics and workshop skills so products are delivered on time and to required quality standards. The role also supports sustainability objectives by promoting recycling and material re-use, coordinating site-level initiatives and contributing to closed-loop plastics methods and end-of-life strategies for internally manufactured products.

Requirements

Proven track record in tooling, production management and plastics manufacturing.
Familiarity with quality, health and safety standards, and materials compliance, such as food safety.
Competent in using management information systems (MIS), manufacturing requirements planning (MRP) and specification software.
ONC/HNC or NVQ equivalent in a related industry.
In-depth technical knowledge of injection moulding and tool design.
Strong organisational and communication skills.
Ability to use Excel, Word, Outlook and production planning systems.
Good understanding of health and safety legislation and best practices.

Responsibilities

Lead delivery and implementation of objectives in the Prison Industries HQ Plastics Strategy through local site support and coordination.
Support the development of costings for internal and commercial plastics products using approved costing models.
Lead operational scheduling, site coordination and delivery across plastics workshops, ensuring technical specifications, materials, machines, logistics and workshop skills are in place for on-time, quality delivery.
Lead site-level rollout and delivery of pre-approved products, collecting and analysing workshop feedback to support best practice.
Provide hands-on technical support to sites and instructors to maintain daily performance.
Coordinate site-level tooling movements, maintenance, Manufacturing Requirements Planning (MRP) and logistics systems to manage stock levels.
Maintain dashboards and support audits and performance actions under Plastics Programme Executive direction.
Identify upskilling opportunities for workshop staff and liaise with providers to support training delivery.
Contribute to business cases from a site-level delivery and implementation perspective, providing information on cycle times, capacity and maintenance requirements.
Coordinate sustainability initiatives at site level and contribute to closed-loop plastics methodology and end-of-life strategies for internally manufactured plastic products.