Manufacturing Jobs in Birmingham, United Kingdom (Now Hiring) — 175 open

John Crane, a business of Smiths Group, is a global leader in mission-critical flow control solutions for energy and process industries that enable efficient and sustainable operations. Our products include mechanical seals and systems, couplings, bearings, filtration systems, and predictive digital monitoring technologies.

We have a global network of more than 200 sites in over 50 countries and employ more than 6,000 people worldwide. We partner with our customers to help them keep their operations safe, reduce downtime, improve efficiency, and meet the latest environmental standards.

John Crane is part of Smiths Group. For over 170 years, Smiths has been pioneering progress by engineering for a better future. We serve millions of people every year, helping to create a safer, more efficient, productive, and better-connected world across four global markets: energy, security & defence, space & aerospace, and general industrial. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, Smiths employs approximately 16,000 colleagues in over 50 countries.

We are seeking an experienced Instructional Designer with at least 5 years of experience to design, develop, and deliver high-quality learning solutions. This role will focus on designing and delivering learning that supports product knowledge, technical capability, safety, and operational excellence. The successful candidate will combine strong instructional design expertise with hands-on media development skills to create engaging, practical, and visually compelling learning content for both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Design and develop learning solutions focused on engineering products, manufacturing processes, and technical skills (eLearning and blended learning).
• Work closely with engineers, product specialists, and SMEs to translate complex technical information into clear, engaging, and accessible learning content.
• Create visual and media-rich learning assets, including: Product demonstrations, process walkthroughs, safety and compliance training videos, technical animations and explainer content.
• Develop digital learning using tools such as Articulate 360, Captivate, or similar platforms.
• Produce and edit multimedia content using tools such as Adobe Creative Suite (Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition, Photoshop) or equivalent.
• Ensure all learning content aligns with health & safety standards, engineering accuracy, and company quality requirements.
• Support training initiatives for shop floor employees, engineers, field service teams, and customer-facing roles.
• Apply instructional design methodologies (e.g., ADDIE, Agile) and adult learning principles.
• Conduct learning needs analyses aligned to product launches, process changes, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Maintain and update training content in line with product updates and engineering changes.
• Evaluate training effectiveness and recommend improvements based on feedback and performance data.

• Minimum 5+ years’ experience in instructional design, ideally within technical environments.
• Strong experience designing technical or product-focused learning content.
• Ability to quickly understand and simplify complex engineering concepts.
• Hands-on experience with eLearning authoring tools (e.g., Articulate Storyline, Rise, Captivate).
• Proven experience in media development, including: Video production and editing, audio editing, basic animation, or visual storytelling 
• Strong stakeholder management skills, especially working with technical SMEs and engineers.
• Excellent communication and organisation skills.
• High attention to detail, particularly in ensuring technical accuracy.

We believe that different perspectives and backgrounds are what make a company flourish. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment regardless of color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, economic status, disability, age, or any other legally protected characteristics. We are proud to be an inclusive company with values grounded in equality and ethics, where we celebrate, support, and embrace diversity.

At no time during the hiring process will Smiths Group, nor any of our recruitment partners ever request payment to enable participation – including, but not limited to, interviews or testing. Avoid fraudulent requests by applying jobs directly through our career’s website (Careers - Smiths Group plc)