Senior Manufacturing Engineer – Assembly

Job description

**Help Build Europe's Hypersonic Capability** At **Hypersonica**, we’re redefining what’s possible in European defence technology. We exist to deliver speed, resilience, and technological independence at a pace that sets a new standard. We are a small, elite team working on problems that matter, and solving them fast. By joining **Hypersonica**, you’re not stepping into a predefined role. You’re joining a talent dense environment where every individual shapes the direction of the company. Our philosophy is to hire a small number of exceptional people with broad, deep technical capability, strong judgement, and the ability to operate autonomously. We hire for talent, not rigid boxes. This role represents a business need, but the way it evolves will be shaped by the individual. If you’ve achieved what others said was impossible, or you bring a unique combination of skills that doesn’t fit a traditional mould, we want to hear from you. The work you do here directly contributes to Europe’s technological independence. ### What you'll do - Define and own the end-to-end assembly process, from raw material to final acceptance. - Author the MBOM, Bill of Process and Bill of Equipment, along with routings, cycle times and takt. - Design the factory footprint — cells, workstations, flow, tooling and labour. - Review and formally approve engineering designs for manufacturability and ease of assembly, checking tolerancing and interface management to identify stack-up, fit and interface risks before they reach the floor. - Apply Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) principles to drive out cost and risk — assembly sequence and access, ergonomics, tolerancing for process capability, standardisation and error-proofing (poka-yoke) - Identify process-level risks and trade-offs early, driving mitigation through design, process or analysis. - Author SOPs and assembly work instructions to AS9100 standards, embedding PFMEA-driven controls and the control plans and quality gates defined by Quality Engineering. - Specify, design and source tooling and equipment; lead international vendors and integrators for tooling and equipment supply, and run FAT/SAT to validate equipment prior to acceptance. - Support prototype and first builds hands-on, and support First Article Inspection (AS9102) with Quality. - Drive the ramp from first builds to steady state, improving yield, cycle time and line balance. - Define a scalable manufacturing blueprint from first-build learning that can be replicated and adapted for future sites. - Own the manufacturing data in Siemens Teamcenter — MBOM/EBOM alignment and change management. - Collaborate with product engineering to establish manufacturing readiness early, and work across cross-functional teams to secure execution timelines. - Build and lead a growing team of manufacturing engineers as we scale. ### Who you are - A Senior Manufacturing/Assembly Engineer who has industrialised complex, high-consequence hardware — ideally in aerospace, defence, or another high-performance environment under significant time pressure. - Genuine greenfield / 0-to-1 NPI experience — you have taken designs into production, not only maintained a running line. - Strong on fundamentals: process design, Design for Assembly, tolerancing and interfaces, line balancing, and tooling. - A technical integrator — deep enough to be credible, broad enough to connect design, process, quality and supply. Comfortable across levels of abstraction, from detailed process to factory system. - Effective at managing vendors and suppliers against demanding timelines. - Hands-on, willing to support build, integration and test when required. - Decisive in ambiguity — able to anticipate, test, reconsider, and maintain momentum. - Pragmatic and delivery-focused, making sound engineering trade-offs without over-engineering. - Experienced with digital manufacturing tools and PLM, ideally Siemens Teamcenter. - Willing and able to travel internationally, primarily between our Germany and UK sites, and to suppliers and integrators as required. ### Nice to have: - CAD proficiency (ideally Siemens NX) to create tooling designs and concepts, build 3D assembly-line layouts, and validate reachability, tool and hand access, and ergonomics. - AS9100 environment experience, or having stood up an AS9100-aligned function. - A Lean / continuous improvement track record. - Awareness of export control (ITAR/EAR or equivalents) in a defence context. - Prior line-management experience**.** ### What we offer - A mission driven environment with the opportunity to work on one of Europe’s most consequential defence challenges, with direct impact on sovereign capability and security. - Daily collaboration with top experts across engineering, operations, and defence, with real opportunity to learn from the best, contribute, and grow. - High ownership and autonomy; no time tracking, no micromanagement, just clear objectives and accountability for outcomes. - A fast paced environment where good ideas are implemented quickly, and feedback from test and flight drives real decisions. - A culture that values clarity, integrity, and excellence, and supports people who take initiative and push boundaries responsibly. - Competitive compensation and real share options aligned to responsibility and impact, not tenure or hierarchy.