AALTO
Manufacturing Engineer

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Location: Farnborough
Contract Type: Full Time, Permanent
Hours: 37
AALTO, a global leader in Stratospace. Based in Farnborough, AALTO is an Airbus subsidiary that 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 a key member of the Manufacturing Engineering Team, your main tasks and responsibilities will be to provide hands-on enablement of design intent into a production system for HAPS Zephyr UAV’s platforms to Safety, Quality, Cost and Time.
You will collaborate with different skillsets and departments throughout AALTO to help propel Zephyr to stratospheric heights.
Responsibilities
- Design and qualification of a HAPS production system using Manufacturing System Engineering tools and processes. (Cellular production approach, Lean Process flow, line balancing, capital investment items, factory layout & simulation).
- Collaborating with the Facilities Management team to deliver shop floor requirements.
- Create/change MRP system shop floor routings / job card definitions / shop floor standard operating instructions (SOI’s) / quality care cards
- Technical dossiers and support to procurement activities, supply chain monitoring and Make v Buy decisions.
- Technical problem solving and support to production and supply chain.
- Application of APQP as appropriate.
- Perform Design For Manufacture (DFM) / Design To Cost (DTC) studies and provide input to design teams
- Collaboration with Manufacturers of Ground Service Equipment and Jig & Tools for design, manufacture, calibration & maintenance.
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You will also be responsible for:
- Deriving and enabling production KPI’s in conjunction with operations teams.
- Continuous Improvement of the production system in line with business targets
- Enable Health and Safety target achievement.
- Enablement of the “Right First Time” Quality culture with associated business systems and feedback loops
Skills and Knowledge Required
- Experience within highly regulated industries
- Experience in one or more of the following areas:
- Avionics
- Assembly, Integration, and Test
- Composite structure assembly
- Experience creating assembly process instructions.
- Experience creating ERP routings.
- Experience using RCCA methodology such as Fishbone, 5 Whys and 8D.
- Ability to work independently and within a team.
- Excellent communication skills.


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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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