Senior Design Engineering Manager – Aerospace (Hybrid)

AALTO; Farnborough; Hybrid; GBP 95,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Short-term incentive plan

25 days holiday

Private medical insurance

Dental and optical cash back

Pension plan

Income protection

Life assurance

Perkbox discounts

Job summary

AALTO, based in Farnborough, leads Stratospace initiatives with Zephyr. We seek a Design Engineering Senior Manager to lead a multi-disciplinary team across mechanical, electrical and structural design, supporting new platform design and certification, while sustaining legacy systems.

You will manage engineering strategy, drive performance metrics, and ensure compliance with airworthiness and safety requirements, liaising with regulators and customers as needed.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, aerospace, electrical, or related engineering discipline.
• Ten years of experience in engineering design and analysis through all product life-cycle stages in aerospace or a similarly regulated industry.
• Proven experience leading and mentoring technical leads and senior engineers.
• Strong resource planning and prioritisation across multiple programs.
• Familiarity with lightweight aerospace composite structural design and CVE sign-off desirable.
• Experience in process improvement and deployment of new engineering tools and systems.
• Able to drive technical decision-making and root-cause analysis in complex aerospace environments.
• Excellent collaboration and stakeholder management with executives, regulators and customers.
• Familiarity with aerospace tools for CAD, PLM, requirements management and analysis.

Responsibilities

• Functional Leadership and Strategy: Build and lead a multi-disciplinary Design Engineering organisation and develop the strategy for Zephyr's road-map and certification objectives.
• Product Development: Ensure timely design and development deliverables with cost and schedule controls; support design reviews and regulatory audits.
• Product Sustainment: Manage obsolescence, manufacturing easement and engineering modifications.
• Skills Development: Coach technical leaders and engineers and foster technical excellence and succession planning.
• Financial and Schedule Oversight: Budgeting, spend tracking, workforce planning and resource allocation across programs.
• Regulatory and Process Compliance: Ensure governance, airworthiness, certification, and safety compliance with authorities.

Skills

Leadership

Design leadership

Aerospace design

Structural analysis

Project management

Requirements management

CAD

PLM

Tool adoption

Quality & certification

Education

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, aerospace, electrical engineering

Tools

CAD

PLM

Requirements management tools

Job description

AALTO, based in Farnborough, leads Stratospace initiatives with Zephyr. We seek a Design Engineering Senior Manager to lead a multi-disciplinary team across mechanical, electrical and structural design, supporting new platform design and certification, while sustaining legacy systems.

You will manage engineering strategy, drive performance metrics, and ensure compliance with airworthiness and safety requirements, liaising with regulators and customers as needed.