AALTO
Assembly & Integration Cell Lead
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Location: Farnborough Contract Type: Full Time, Permanent Hours: 37
About AALTO
AALTO, a global leader in Stratospace, is an Airbus subsidiary based in Farnborough. AALTO manufactures, operates, and delivers services with its solar-powered, stratospheric platform: Zephyr.
Zephyr’s persistence enables continuous flight for months at a time. Its current flight-time record of over 67 days in the stratosphere. From above 60,000+ft, or 20km above ground, AALTO can deliver several applications including direct-to-device connectivity and high-resolution Earth observation.
AALTO operates in a new operational layer between most of air traffic and low-Earth orbit, Stratospace. This is where high-altitude platforms led by Zephyr deliver services to commercial and government partners. We can help monitor environments, observe borders, track natural disasters, and connect unconnected communities.
Join us as we create a new domain of aerospace: Stratospace. You’ll be part of a highly-skilled, innovative, and passionate group of people – Team AALTO. Together, we can Unlock Stratospace.
About The Role
As an Assembly & Integration Cell Lead, you will coordinate and execute the daily manufacturing, assembly, integration, installation, and test activities required to deliver Zephyr aircraft.
You'll work closely with Production Managers, Engineering, Quality, and Supply Chain teams to keep builds progressing, resolve issues, drive continuous improvement, and ensure the successful delivery of aircraft production milestones.
Responsibilities
Production Delivery & Build Execution
- Lead daily manufacturing and integration activities in line with the production plan.
- Coordinate day-of-build activities to achieve safety, quality, and delivery targets.
- Monitor build progress and proactively manage schedule, quality, technical, and resource risks.
- Drive workflow management and prioritisation within the production cell.
- Support production recovery plans and minimise disruptions to delivery schedules.
- Ensure effective shift handovers and communication of build status and priorities.
Hands-On Aircraft Assembly & Integration
- Perform and support aircraft assembly, integration, installation, wiring, and testing activities.
- Install and integrate avionics and mechanical systems on UAV platforms.
- Manufacture and assemble in-house avionics components where required.
- Conduct installation inspections, verification activities, and system integration testing.
- Interpret engineering drawings, technical documentation, work instructions, and test procedures.
- Use calibrated tools and equipment to verify dimensional compliance.
- Support fault diagnosis, troubleshooting, and corrective action implementation.
- Maintain accurate build records and ensure full product traceability.
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Leadership & Team Development
- Provide daily supervision and technical leadership to a team of specialist AIT Technicians.
- Coordinate activities across multiple aircraft builds simultaneously.
- Allocate tasks based on production priorities, technician capability, and business requirements.
- Monitor completion of work packages and drive accountability for delivery.
- Coach, mentor, and develop team members to build technical capability.
- Support onboarding and training of new employees.
- Promote collaboration, engagement, and a positive team culture.
Quality & Compliance
- Ensure all manufacturing and integration activities comply with approved processes and engineering requirements.
- Champion a right-first-time and zero-defect culture.
- Support investigation of non-conformances and implementation of corrective actions.
- Ensure compliance with:
- AS9100 quality standards
- Human Factors requirements
- FOD (Foreign Object Debris) prevention
- Tool Control processes
- COSHH requirements
- ESD-controlled environments
- Product traceability and build documentation
- Maintain audit readiness across the production cell.
Health, Safety & Operational Excellence
- Lead by example and promote a strong safety culture.
- Ensure compliance with Health & Safety procedures and reporting requirements.
- Support the implementation of shop-floor safety initiatives.
- Safely handle delicate and flexible aircraft structures and assemblies.
- Identify and mitigate operational risks and exercise stop-work authority when required.
- Maintain excellent housekeeping and 6S standards.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives to improve efficiency, productivity, and quality.
Skills and Knowledge Required
- Hands-on experience within aerospace manufacturing, aircraft assembly, integration, or test environments.
- Experience leading, coordinating, or supervising small technical teams.
- Strong knowledge of aircraft assembly, avionics installation, integration, and test processes.
- Ability to interpret engineering drawings, technical documents, and work instructions.
- Experience conducting and recording installation verification and system integration testing.
- Competence using standard test equipment, crimp tooling, and calibrated measurement equipment.
- High-quality soldering capability.
- Knowledge of ESD-controlled manufacturing environments.
- Strong fault-finding and troubleshooting skills.
- Experience maintaining accurate production and build records.
- Ability to prioritise workloads and perform effectively in a fast-paced production environment.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
- Good Microsoft Office and general IT skills.
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Technical Knowledge
- Aircraft manufacturing and maintenance processes.
- Human Factors principles.
- FOD prevention and Tool Control.
- Health & Safety and COSHH compliance.
- Dimensional inspection and verification methods.
- Production scheduling and workflow execution.
- 6S workplace organisation.
- EWIS awareness and interface requirements.
Qualifications
Essential
- Aerospace or Engineering Full Apprenticeship.
- NVQ Level 3 in Avionics Engineering or equivalent engineering discipline.
Benefits
In addition to an attractive market-aligned salary, we offer:
- Rewarding Excellence: Benefit from our short-term incentive plan that rewards your hard work and dedication.
- Enjoy Your Time Off: Benefit from 25 days of holiday to relax and recharge.
- Stay Healthy: We’ve got your health covered with private medical insurance, along with dental and optical cash back.
- Secure Your Future: Take advantage of our personal pension plan to ensure a comfortable retirement.
- Peace of Mind: Our income protection and life assurance schemes are there to support you when you need it most.
- Getting around: Drive the latest vehicles with our discounted salary sacrifice scheme.
- We Care About You: Our employee assistance programme is always available to provide the support you need.
- Perks Galore: Enjoy a range of employee discounts via Perkbox, from household goods to travel!
Does this opportunity excite you but you’re not 100% sure if you meet all the requirements for the role? Or are you concerned that ‘normal’ office hours aren’t possible given your personal circumstances?
Whilst we can’t accommodate every flexible working request, we’ll try to find a practical solution. So why not engage with us and find out more about this role?
If this role isn’t quite what you’re looking for but are keen to be contacted about opportunities at AALTO, you can register your details here: https://careers.aaltohaps.com/connect
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