Senior Manufacturing Engineer - Systems

Senior Manufacturing Engineer - Systems

Isar Aerospace

Ottobrunn, Germany

Mission Brief

The Senior Production Engineering Systems is the senior integrator across all special-process domains — e.g. Additive Manufacturing, Surface Treatment, and Welding & Heat Treatment, and the overall Production Engineering (PE). You are responsible for driving cross-functional industrialization, harmonizing engineering standards, and ensuring production-wide capability growth. In this senior role, you act as the principal sparring partner for each specialist engineer, challenge technical decisions, and elevate the maturity of processes and methods across the entire Production Engineering department. This role reflects senior aerospace positions that govern multi-process industrial readiness, coordinate with manufacturing, design, and quality teams, and lead special-process audits or capability development

Your Role in Our Space Mission:

• Cross-Process Industrialization Leadership - Own end-to-end industrial readiness for assemblies requiring multiple processes. Ensure alignment of TRL/MRL maturity, DFMA guidelines, and capability requirements across all process families. Lead multi-process pFMEAs, integrated control plans, and capability roadmaps. Serve as senior escalation point for cross-process manufacturability risks. Support smooth process handovers from development to stable serial production;
• Senior Governance of Special Processes - Define and maintain company-wide special process standards, documentation frameworks, and qualification requirements. Establish long-term capability roadmaps for PE processes — including equipment strategies, automation, and skill development. Lead internal readiness reviews and support equipment validation with external OEM;
• KPI Ownership Across Production Engineering - Define and own cross-process KPIs, such as: Non-Conformity rates and blockers across process ownership within PE, manufacturing readiness milestones, capability metrics, special process stability metrics, standardize KPI reporting and dashboards across all PE specialist roles. Ensure PE visibility into bottlenecks, quality trends, and systemic issues;
• Strategic Project Leadership (Senior-Level Execution) - Lead large, strategic, crossfunctional projects (automation initiatives, layout optimization, introduction of new special processes). Create multi-year roadmaps for capability growth (equipment, digital tools, methods). Support specialists with project planning, resource coordination, and risk management. Aerospace senior engineering functions similarly lead initiatives improving capability, throughput, and cost across production networks;
• Technical Sparring Partner to Specialist Engineers - Act as the senior technical counterpart for all three roles:
  • AM Engineer: Challenge process design, integration readiness, and manufacturability for high complexity AM components;
  • Surface Treatment Engineer: Validate cleanliness, passivation, contamination control, and integration with upstream/downstream processes;
  • Senior Welding/HT Engineer: Align welding/HT readiness with AM + surface treatment requirements; structure joint qualification strategies. Your role ensures process-flow coherence, enabling specialists to operate at maximum depth without losing systemic alignment.
• Production Engineering Digitalization & Architecture - Define the digital backbone for Production Engineering — including unified data structures, process maps, and engineering change workflows — while driving the strategic implementation of AI tools that streamline documentation, reduce process noise, and eliminate repetitive administrative tasks. By validating and integrating AI-driven solutions into Production Engineering workflows, ensure that engineers can focus on high-impact technical work rather than distraction or overhead, supporting a lean, efficient, and future-ready production system;
• Senior-Level Continuous Improvement & Lean Leadership - Drive CI initiatives that span multiple domains, not isolated processes. Lead root-cause investigations requiring combined expertise from AM, coatings, and welding/HT. Define PE-wide standards for problem-solving, maturity tracking, and documentation excellence;
• Health and Safety - Ensure all welding and heat-treatment activities comply with health, safety, and environmental standards, actively contributing to a safe and sustainable workplace.

Qualification Checklist

• BSc/MSc in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Materials Engineering, or comparable;
• 7–10+ years experience in aerospace, space, or high-tech manufacturing;
• Deep understanding of at least two special processes (AM, coatings, welding/HT) and strong familiarity with the third;
• Proven experience in industrialization leadership, TRL/MRL maturity assessments, and capability management;
• Strong process engineering background with senior-level influence across functions;
• Experience leading cross-functional teams and driving complex technical programs;
• Demonstrated ability to guide specialists and challenge processes at a senior engineering level;
• Strong communication skills with ability to influence department strategy;
• Automation & Digital Factory Focus, passion for factory digitalization and Industry 5.0;
• Background in additive-/hybrid-manufacturing joining challenges.