Tool Designer
Top Job
Located in Jamestown, NY
Salary: 23-28
Express Employment Professionals is currently recruiting for our Jamestown, NY client.
Our client is seeking a Tool Designer Trainee to join their engineering team. We design and manufacture custom tooling that produces them is engineered in-house. This is an entry-level role built to develop a skilled tool designer over time through structured mentorship, hands-on shop floor exposure, and progressive responsibility. The successful candidate should have strong mechanical aptitude and a genuine interest in learning a specialized manufacturing trade. The trainee will learn how flat steel strip is progressively formed into finished profiles and will grow into designing, documenting, and maintaining the roll tooling that makes it happen.
Key Responsibilities
Responsibilities will expand as skills develop, with supervision tapering over time:
Responsibilities
- Assist with strip width and blank development calculations.
- Create and revise roll tooling drawings and roll set layouts under the direction of senior designers.
- Help digitize, structure, and maintain legacy tooling drawings and the tooling drawing library – converting older paper and software-generated records into organized, analyzable digital formats.
- Develop and maintain bills of material (BOMs), tool lists, and tooling revision records.
- Spend scheduled time on the production floor to understand how tooling performs in real forming operations and how setup affects part quality.
- Support root-cause investigation when formed parts fall outside specification, learning to connect tooling geometry and pass design to part defects.
- Follow engineering standards, drawing conventions, and revision-control practices.
Required Qualifications
- Minimum of an Associate’s degree or technical certificate in Mechanical Engineering Technology, Manufacturing, Drafting/Design, or a related field – OR equivalent of 4 years of hands-on machining, fabrication, or tooling experience.
- Solid working math skills, including geometry and trigonometry.
- Aptitude to learn CAD/Design software quickly.
- Ability to read and interpret mechanical drawings and blueprints.
- Strong mechanical aptitude and attention to detail.
- Clear written and verbal communication; able to document work accurately.
- Reliable, organized, and committed to learning a specialized skill set over the long term.
Preferred Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology, Manufacturing, Drafting/Design, or a related field.
- Exposure to sheet metal forming, roll forming, stamping, machining, or fabrication.
- Basic proficiency with at least one CAD package (SolidWorks, AutoCAD, Inventor, or similar).
- Familiarity with GD&T (geometric dimensioning and tolerancing).
- Experience with 3D modeling and detailing of mechanical components.
- Comfort using spreadsheets (Excel) for engineering calculations and data organization.
- Interest in continuous-process manufacturing and a career path in tooling design.
- Occasional lifting od tooling samples and exposure to typical shop conditions (noise, machinery, metalworking fluids); appropriate PPE provided.
- On-site role based in Jamestown, NY.
What We Offer
- Structured on-the-job training and mentorship in a specialized, in-demand trade.
- A defined growth path from trainee to Design Tooling Engineer
- Benefits include: medical / dental / vision, retirement plan, paid vacation, paid sick leave
Location: Jamestown NY 14701
Salary: 23-28
Six Ways To Apply: (choose one)
Benefits of working with Express:
- Holiday pay
- Medical benefits
- 401K
- Training
- Scholarship opportunities
About Express Employment Professionals:
Express Employment Professionals specializes in a variety of industries, including Commercial/Manufacturing, Warehousing, Skilled Trades, Administrative, Human Resources, Accounting, Sales and Marketing and more. We are able to fill these needs through direct hire, contract-to-hire and contract opportunities. There is no fee to candidates for our service; we are a Human Resources Solution company assisting business in finding top talent. In 2025 we put over 5000 people to work in Chautauqua and surrounding Counties. Let us help you today! Learn more about our local office at our website: www.expresspros.com/jamestownny
For a complete listing of all open positions, visit www.expresspros.com/JamestownNY/Job-Openings.aspx
Jamestown Office:
17 East Fourth St
Jamestown, NY 14701
Fredonia Office:
33 Church St 3rd Floor
Fredonia, NY 14063
Express Office: Fredonia
33 Church Street
3rd Floor
Fredonia, NY 14063
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