Senior Manufacturing Engineer – Assembly

Hypersonica; Greater London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Job summary

Hypersonica is on a mission to redefine Europe’s defence manufacturing capability. We seek a Senior Manufacturing/Assembly Engineer who will own the end-to-end assembly process, drive DfMA improvements, and lead a growing team across cross-functional partners in the UK and Europe.

You will author BOMs, design factory layouts, and ensure producibility from first article through steady state, collaborating with suppliers and internal engineering to deliver complex hardware on time.

Qualifications

• Experience industrialising complex high-consequence hardware (aerospace/defence).
• Greenfield NPI from design to production (0-to-1).
• Strong fundamentals in process design, tolerancing, and interfaces.
• Technical integrator capable across design, process, quality and supply.
• Vendor management under tight timelines.
• Hands-on with build, integration and test when required.

Responsibilities

• Define end-to-end assembly process from raw material to acceptance.
• Author MBOM, BOP, and Equipment bills with routings and cycle times.
• Design factory footprint including cells, workstations, and tooling.
• Review designs for manufacturability and tolerance interfaces.
• Apply DfMA to reduce cost and risk with standardisation and poka-yoke.
• Identify risks early and drive mitigations via design or process.
• Write SOPs and assembly instructions to AS9100 standards.
• Specify tooling and lead international vendors, run FAT/SAT.
• Support prototype builds and First Article Inspection with Quality.
• Drive ramp to steady state, improve yield and line balance.
• Define scalable manufacturing blueprint for future sites.
• Own manufacturing data in Teamcenter MBOM/EBOM alignment.
• Collaborate with product engineering for readiness; cross-functional
• Build and lead growing team of manufacturing engineers.

Skills

Complex hardware

NPI experience

Process design

DfMA principles

Tolerancing

Vendor mgmt

Tools

Siemens Teamcenter

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.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.