The role focuses on managing assembly and joining processes, collaborating with engineering teams, and leading manufacturing operations for high-performance systems in a fast-paced environment.
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.
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