Manufacturing Engineering Manager

The Manufacturing Engineering Manager is a critical senior leadership role responsible for defining, governing, and delivering the end‑to‑end manufacturing engineering and industrialization strategy for one of the organization’s most strategically important programmes within our Commercial Aircraft division.

This role owns the complete manufacturing vision for this programme, from early design influence through industrialization, production readiness, and rate‑ramp execution. As a core member of the leadership team, the position works in close partnership with the Engineering Director, Technical Lead, Program Director, and Supply Chain leadership to drive Design to Cost, Make/Buy strategy, and global manufacturing footprint decisions.

A central focus is ensuring that product design, manufacturing capability, and supply chain strategy are fully aligned to deliver cost‑competitive, high‑quality, scalable production solutions. The role provides authoritative manufacturing leadership across internal sites and external suppliers, translating ambitious programme objectives into executable industrial solutions.

For the right leader, this role represents a unique opportunity to shape the industrial strategy of a flagship aerospace programme and make a lasting impact on how products are built, delivered, and scaled globally.

As the Manufacturing Engineering Manager, you will:

• Develop, define, and govern the manufacturing engineering strategy and industrialization approach across all lifecycle phases of the Programme.

• Act as the programme manufacturing authority, providing expert judgement on high‑impact, technically complex manufacturing and industrialization decisions.

• Lead the application of Design for Manufacture (DFM), Design for Assembly (DFA), and Design to Cost principles from early design definition onward.

• Provide authoritative guidance to Design Engineering on specifications, tolerances, materials, and configurations to optimize manufacturability, cost, and scalability.

• Define global Make/Buy strategies and influence where and how products are manufactured, assembled, and tested.

• Design, develop, and optimize production processes, manufacturing layouts, equipment strategies, and material flows for efficient and economical production.

• Specify tooling, equipment, automation, and process requirements, adapting solutions to internal factory and external supplier conditions.

• Lead manufacturing engineering input to industrial readiness, production launch, and rate‑ramp activities.

• Identify, analyze, and resolve complex, poorly defined manufacturing and industrialization challenges using advanced engineering principles.

• Partner closely with Supply Chain to support strategic sourcing decisions aligned to cost, capability, capacity, and risk objectives.

• Provide technical direction, mentorship, and knowledge‑sharing to manufacturing engineers supporting the programme.

• Advise senior management on manufacturing risks, opportunities, and advanced engineering solutions that influence long‑term competitiveness.

To be considered for the Manufacturing Engineering Manager position, here’s what you’ll need to bring with you:

• Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent.

• Extensive experience in manufacturing engineering supporting complex aerospace or high‑reliability industrial products.

• Mastery‑level knowledge of production system design, industrialization, DFM/DFA, and advanced manufacturing processes.

• Demonstrated experience leading large, technically complex initiatives of strategic importance.

• Proven ability to operate with limited supervision while influencing senior stakeholders across functional boundaries.

• Strong record of solving complex, undefined problems through engineering judgement, innovation, and structured decision‑making.

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts to leadership and cross‑functional teams.

• Strong commitment to quality, safety, compliance, and continuous improvement.

It would be nice if you also had:

• Experience defining and deploying manufacturing strategies across multiple global sites and external suppliers.

• Background in plant, industrial, or operations leadership within an aerospace manufacturing environment.

• Demonstrated success influencing Design to Cost and early design trade‑off decisions.

• Experience supporting production launch, industrial readiness reviews, and rate‑ramp execution.

How we care for you:

• Flexible benefits package and development opportunities to support career progression

• Competitive annual leave entitlement (including bank holidays)

• Private medical insurance, mental health support, and financial wellbeing resources

• Generous life assurance and company pension contribution

• Employee share options, free onsite parking, and EV charging

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