Senior Engineer - Composites & CAE

McLaren Automotive Ltd; Woking; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 105,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days’ holiday

Private medical insurance

Enhanced pension

Discretionary annual bonus

Life assurance

Sabbatical after 2 years

Wellbeing initiatives

Job summary

McLaren Automotive is seeking a Senior Engineer – Composite Materials & Manufacturing CAE to bridge material testing, manufacturing processes, and CAE. You will characterise materials, run manufacturing simulations, and develop CAE-ready data to enable robust virtual development of McLaren composites.

You’ll work with Materials and CAE specialists to ensure material behaviour is accurately represented in CAE toolchains, delivering defined work packages and high-quality engineering outputs.

Qualifications

• Significant technical experience in composite materials testing and/or composite manufacturing CAE.
• Strong knowledge of composite material behaviour, laminate theory, fibre orientation, defects, and failure mechanisms.
• Understanding of how physical material test results are translated into simulation models and engineering allowables.

Responsibilities

• Deliver material test and characterisation activities for composite constituent and laminate systems.
• Develop and execute test programmes to establish the mechanical and physical behaviour required for CAE and manufacturing simulation.
• Analyse and interpret material test results, identifying trends, anomalies, and root causes.
• Support the development of CAE-ready material data and material models.
• Work within the Advanced Materials team to identify material data gaps and define appropriate additional testing.

Skills

Composite materials testing

Composite manufacturing CAE

Draping and forming analysis

Finite element analysis

CAe inputs

Cross-functional collaboration

Analytical thinking

Job description

What to Expect

The Senior Engineer – Composite Materials & Manufacturing CAE will provide specialist technical capability at the interface between composite material testing, manufacturing processes, and CAE.

The role will support the development and integration of composite material technologies by delivering robust material characterisation, manufacturing simulation, and technical analysis to enable accurate and efficient virtual development of McLaren composite structures.

Working closely with the Materials and CAE specialists, the role will ensure that material behaviour and manufacturing processes are appropriately understood, characterised, and represented within the CAE toolchain.

The role is focused on the delivery of defined technical work packages and the generation of high-quality engineering outputs, rather than team leadership or technical ownership of the overall roadmap.

What You'll Do

Composite Material Characterisation:

• Deliver material test and characterisation activities for composite constituent and laminate systems.
• Develop and execute test programmes to establish the mechanical and physical behaviour required for CAE and manufacturing simulation.
• Analyse and interpret material test results, identifying trends, anomalies, and root causes.
• Support the development of CAE-ready material data and material models.
• Work within the Advanced Materials team to identify material data gaps and define appropriate additional testing.

Composite Manufacturing CAE:

• Deliver manufacturing simulations for composite structures, including draping, forming, moulding, and associated manufacturing processes.
• Assess the impact of manufacturing processes on fibre orientation, thickness, defects, wrinkles, distortion, and structural performance.
• Translate manufacturing simulation outputs into information that can be used effectively within structural CAE.
• Support the development and validation of manufacturing simulation methodologies for new composite technologies.
• Work closely with manufacturing engineers to ensure virtual manufacturing predictions reflect production processes and constraints.

Material–Manufacturing–CAE Integration:

• Develop an understanding of the complete relationship between material properties, manufacturing process, structural performance, and CAE prediction.
• Support the integration of manufacturing-derived material information into structural simulation models.
• Investigate the influence of manufacturing variability and defects on structural performance.
• Support correlation between material tests, manufacturing simulations, component tests, and structural CAE.
• Provide technical insight to help ensure that virtual models represent realistic production-intent structures.

Technical Development:

• Support the development of new methodologies for composite materials and manufacturing simulation.
• Investigate emerging composite materials and manufacturing technologies and assess their suitability for future McLaren applications.
• Apply first principles, engineering calculations and simplified analytical approaches to validate simulation outputs and support technical decision‑making.
• Contribute to automation and improved workflows for material testing, data processing, manufacturing simulation, and CAE integration.
• Produce high-quality technical reports, analysis, and recommendations to support engineering decisions.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Work closely with Advanced Materials, Composite CAE, Design, Manufacturing, Testing, and Vehicle Engineering teams.
• Liaise with external suppliers, academic institutions, and research partners on specific technical development activities.
• Communicate technical findings clearly and effectively to both specialist and non‑specialist stakeholders.
• Support the Lead Engineers in the delivery of composite technology development programmes.

What You'll Bring

Business Knowledge:

• Significant technical experience in composite materials testing and/or composite manufacturing CAE.
• Strong practical experience in composite material characterisation and test methods.
• Strong knowledge of composite manufacturing processes, including prepreg, RTM, infusion, compression moulding, and related processes.

Essential Functional / Technical Skills:

• Significant technical experience in composite materials testing and/or composite manufacturing CAE.
• Strong practical experience in composite material characterisation and test methods.
• Strong knowledge of composite manufacturing processes, including prepreg, RTM, infusion, compression moulding, and related processes.
• Practical experience with composite manufacturing simulation, particularly draping and forming analysis.
• Understanding of how manufacturing processes influence composite structural performance and CAE inputs.
• Knowledge of composite material behaviour, laminate theory, fibre orientation, defects, and failure mechanisms.
• Experience analysing and interpreting experimental material data.
• Understanding of how physical material test results are translated into simulation models and engineering allowables.
• Strong analytical capability and an ability to apply first principles and engineering judgement alongside CAE.
• Good understanding of finite element analysis and its application to composite structures.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work effectively across materials, CAE, manufacturing, suppliers, and academia

Personal Attributes / Competencies:

• Strong collaboration skills with the ability to influence cross‑functional teams and drive engineering decisions.
• A passion for high performance engineering.
• Adopts a creative & thoughtful approach to concept design and solving engineering problems with good attention to detail.
• A positive, proactive attitude with a high level of self‑motivation to deliver excellence.
• Well organised and independent; able to work constructively with minimal supervision.
• Delivery focused – with demonstrable track record of on‑time delivery in a high‑pressure environment.
• An engaging mind, open to new problems outside their normal comfort zone.
• A willingness to engage in debate and discussion.
• Empathy, a willingness to listen and see others’ points of view.
• Ability to communicate clearly with design and development groups and to lead a small, focused team.
• Ambitious, and self‑reliant; intrinsically self‑motivated.
• Good team skills, willingness to work cross‑functionally.
• Well organised and delivery focused, with demonstrable track record of on‑time delivery.
• Capable of representing a world class automotive brand.
• Able to remain focused under pressure.

What We'll Do for You

We offer a wide ranging benefits package, which includes:

• Structured career development framework
• 25 days’ holiday, plus bank holiday. Annual buy & sell up to five days
• Enhanced company pension scheme
• Discretionary annual bonus award
• Private medical insurance and health cash plan
• Life assurance benefit
• Ability to apply for a sabbatical of up to one year after only two years’ service
• Benefits you can adapt to your lifestyle, such as discounted shopping
• Generous parental leave policies
• A range of wellbeing initiatives, such as employee assistance programme and free financial & mortgage advice

Who Are We?

No restraints. No limitations. We don’t simply push boundaries. We completely rethink them. McLaren Automotive exists to create breath‑taking performance road cars.

It takes a community to do what we do. A diverse group of people with many areas of expertise, united by their passion to deliver visionary products and set new benchmarks.

McLaren Automotive commits to equal opportunity for all. Diversity, Equality and Inclusion is at the heart of our impact, it drives our innovation and enables us to truly create something special. Join us on our journey.