Assistant Manager (Welding & Machining Manufacturing Engineering) - #1163761

Working Location: West

Working Day/Hour: Monday - Friday 0800 to 1730hours

Manufacturing Engineering Leadership

• Support Manufacturing Engineering Manager in managing daily engineering activities

• Coordinate engineering resources to support production priorities and customer delivery commitments

• Act as technical leading during absence of the Manager when required

• Provide guidance and mentoring to engineers and technicians

Welding Engineering Leadership

• Lead development and qualification of welding procedures (WPS/PQR).

• Support Nadcap welding accreditation preparation and sustainment

• Ensure welding processes meet aerospace OEM and regulatory requirements

• Lead weld defect investigations and corrective actions

Machining Engineering Leadership

• Lead CNC machining process development including turning, milling and multi-axis machining operations

• Validate cycle time assumptions across production machine platforms

• Drive machining productivity improvement and tooling optimisation

• Support automation and advanced machining initiatives

New Product Introduction (NPI) and Industrialisation

• Lead manufacturability assessment during quotation and NPI stage.

• Ensure manufacturing routing, cycle time and resource assumptions are validated prior to production commitment

• Oversee pilot runs and first article builds

• Ensure production readiness prior to volume ramp-up

Manufacturing Cost and Risk Management

• Monitor manufacturing performance against quotation assumptions

• Escalate risks impacting cost, quality or delivery performance

• Lead recovery planning for underperforming or loss-making programmes

• Ensure manufacturing assumption changes are communicated across Operations, PPC and Sales teams

Capacity Planning and Operational Support

• Work closely with PPC and Operations to validate capacity assumptions

• Support workload balancing across machine groups

• Validate machine utilisation and OEE improvement initiatives

Quality and Compliance

• Ensure compliance with aerospace OEM standards and Nadcap requirements

• Support customer audits and regulatory audits

• Maintain manufacturing documentation and process controls

Continuous Improvement and Digital Transformation

• Lead yield improvement and scrap reduction initiatives

• Support digital manufacturing and AI deployment initiatives

• Drive data-driven process monitoring

Cross Functional Leadership

• Work closely with Production, Quality Assurance, PPC and Sales teams

• Support customer technical discussions when required

• Promote clear communication across departments

Requirements

• Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering or equivalent

• Minimum 10 years of experience

• Technical Competencies

  • Welding metallurgy and procedure qualification

  • Strong knowledge of CNC machining process development including turning, milling and multi-axis machining

  • Working knowledge of CNC programming and CAM systems to validate machining strategies and optimise cycle time

  • Experience in tooling and fixture design to ensure manufacturing repeatability and productivity

  • Understanding of cutting tools selection, machining parameters and process optimisation

  • Ability to evaluate manufacturability and provide accurate cost and cycle time estimation

  • Process validation and industrialisation

  • Root cause analysis methodologies

• Leadership Competencies

  • Strong ownership mindset

  • Ability to lead cross-functional teams

  • Coaching and mentoring capability

  • Commercial awareness and decision judgement