Lead Engineer, Development Build & Test

Acro Aircraft Seating Ltd; Crick; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday + bank holidays

Pension contributions up to 5%

Life assurance

Employee Assistance Programme

Training opportunities

37.5 hours per week - 1pm finish on a 

Enhanced maternity and paternity leave

Job summary

Acro Aircraft Seating Ltd is seeking a hands-on Engineering Test & Development professional to lead and execute development, test and certification activities for mechanical seating products. You will manage in-house test facilities and coordinate external test houses, delivering accurate plans and reports on time and to budget.

Key responsibilities include running development build, test and reporting, maintaining a safe and efficient workshop, and supporting NPD and customer programs with R&D

Qualifications

• Achieved (or working towards) a mechanically biased engineering qualification.
• Experience of working in a test and development environment.
• Experience on mechanical product development programmes.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to work well under own initiative.
• Ability to analyse problems and recommend a course of action.
• Understand how to calibrate test equipment.
• Experience in task and resource planning.
• Supervision of build and test technicians.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to and support the Design, Engineering and Certification process through efficient in-house testing.
• Contribute to Sales & Marketing through delivering Seats on time and to a suitable build standard.
• Manage the A2 workshop facility to maintain a safe, tidy and efficient work area.
• Deliver development build, test and reporting in accordance with schedule, budget and required certification standards.
• Deliver Sales & Marketing Seats on time and to a suitable build standard.
• Lead & execute development, warranty and certification tests with plan, build, set-up, testing and reporting.
• Provide capability to deliver planned build & test programs for NPD, Customer Programs and Sales & Marketing Seats.
• Develop and maintain in-house test facility including static, abuse and cyclic testing.
• Identify areas to improve capability, capacity and efficiency with business cases.
• Coordinate and deliver build and maintenance of Sales & Marketing seats on time and in budget.
• Write test setups, plans and reports to ensure configuration and outcome are captured.
• Lead build of demonstration seats for customer milestones (PDR, CDR) as required.
• Provide R&D support to the Industrial Design team to assess product features.
• Build strong internal and external relationships with customers and suppliers.
• Achieve 100% safety record when performing tests.
• Work to approved test plans to produce high quality and compliant tests.
• Generate test set-ups and seek reductions in test setup times while staying compliant.
• Record test results and report clearly.
• Prioritise workload for expedient test execution while remaining flexible.
• Develop and employ software/test systems efficiently.
• Identify opportunities to improve output quality and efficiency.

Skills

Mechanically biased engineering

Test & development experience

Mechanical product development

Verbal & written communication

Initiative

Problem analysis

Calibrating test equipment

Task & resource planning

Supervision of technicians

Education

Mechanical engineering qualification

Tools

Test equipment

Job description

Acro Aircraft Seating is one of the UK’s leading and fastest growing manufacturers of passenger seats for commercial airlines around the world. We are an agile, innovative business at the forefront of disrupting the aerospace market. Through modern methodologies, lean techniques, inspired innovation, and passion to be the best, Acro is positioning itself to be the world’s leading aircraft seating supplier.

Collaboration is one of Acro’s core values, by working together and applying our skills and expertise across Sales, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain and Operations, we find the solutions to our clients’ most complex challenges and how we deliver our promises today and tomorrow.

Key Responsibilities

• Contribute to and support the Design, Engineering and Certification development process through the efficient execution of in-house testing
• Contribute to the Sales & Marketing process through the delivery of Sales & Marketing Seats on time and to a suitable build standard
• Management of the A2 workshop facility to achieve & maintain a safe, tidy & efficient work area
• Delivery of development build, test and reporting in accordance with schedule, budget and required certification standards to meet program requirements
• Delivery of Sales & Marketing Seats on time and to a suitable build standard
• Lead & execute development, warranty and certification tests using Acro internal test facilities and external test houses where required, to include planning, build, set-up, testing and reporting. Activities to be completed to meet program requirements safely, on time & in budget
• Provide the capability to deliver planned build & test programs in support of NPD, Customer Programs and Sales & Marketing Seats by:

Developing and maintaining the in-house test facility to include static, abuse and cyclic testing.

Identification of areas where the in-house test facility can be developed to improved capability, capacity and efficiency supported by Business Cases.

Developing and maintaining the A2 workshop facility to achieve and maintain a safe, tidy and efficient work area.

Coordinate & deliver the build and maintenance of Sales & Marketing seats on time and in budget, and to the required build quality in accordance with planned requirements.

Write test setups, plans and reports to ensure the test configuration and outcome are sufficiently captured.

Lead & execute build of demonstration seats in support of customer program milestone meetings (eg PDR, CDR) in accordance with program requirements.

Provide R&D support to the Industrial Design team to assess and demonstrate product features.

Build strong relationships both internally and externally with customers and suppliers incl external test facilities.

Achieve and maintain a 100% safety record when performing tests

Working to approved test plans, equipment and materials to produce high quality and compliant tests in an efficient manner

Generate test set-ups and constantly seek to find reductions in test (set-up) times whilst ensuring the execution is compliant with planned requirements

Record test results and report out in a robust, clear and precise manner

Prioritise your workload to ensure the most expedient execution of tests, whilst being able to respond in a flexible, professional manner when requirements alter

Develop and employ software and test system equipment in the most efficient manner as required

Identify and develop opportunities for the quality and efficiency of output of the development team i.e. developing right first time methodologies

Ensure effective forward planning of capacity and capability to deliver test and Sales and Marketing activities

Skills and experience required

• Achieved (or working towards) a mechanically biased engineering qualification
• Previous experience of working in a test and development environment
• Experience of working on Mechanical product development programmes
• Must have good verbal and written communication skills
• Must have the ability to work well under own initiative
• The ability to analyse problems and recommend a course of action
• Understand the requirements of how to calibrate test equipment
• Experience in task and resource planning
• Supervision of build and test technicians

Highly Desirable

• Previous experience of running a test facility
• Strong interpersonal skills.

Other characteristics of the role include: ability to cope with pressure; UK and worldwide travel; extended working hours; and, a need for confidentiality.

• 25 days holiday + bank holidays
• Pension contributions up to 5%
• Life assurance
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Training opportunities
• 37.5 hours per week - 1pm finish on a Friday
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave

Acro Aircraft Seating is an equal opportunities employer.

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