Director of Design Engineering Function

About GKN Aerospace

A Truly Global Business 
Every day, around the world, we help aircrafts fly further, faster and greener.  We’re the world’s leading tier one aerospace supplier of systems and components. With over 15,000 employees across 41 manufacturing sites in 13 countries serving over 90% of the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers with sales of £2.8bn. Together as “one GKN” we’re moving our business and industry forward developing technologies that rapidly decarbonise aircraft, and innovating to help build a new generation of planes that produce zero emissions.  We’re putting sustainability at the heart of what we do; driving our objective to becoming a net zero greenhouse gas emissions business before 2050! 

Making a Difference 
It’s great to know you’re making a difference to the future of aviation! Whatever part you play you’ll be helping us deliver operational excellence to our customers.
 

Job Summary

We are seeking to recruit a Director of Product Engineering to be based either our Papendrecht Site NL or our Global Technology Centre, Bristol UK. You will be responsible for the professional standards of operation of the Product Engineering function and its overall capability development and management in terms of people, methods and toolsets.

Product Engineering includes engineering functional activities typically used to develop and manage the design and verification of a product including integration of that product within the overall operational platform and to perform sustaining activities (change management and customer- and manufacturing- support) after LCG7

The role is responsible for fulfilling functional Product Engineering responsibilities as apportioned in the various Design Office Manuals/Design Office Interface Documents/Design Office procedures including; (i) Provision of functional management to all Product Engineering functional staff and (ii) managing any Centres of Competence for Product Engineering to enable the continuous development of the discipline and (iii) ensuring the Product Integrity of the developed products. 

Job Responsibilities

• Provide occasional direct support to programs, sites and business projects, whilst executing the leadership and management responsibilities of the position
• Responsibility for the process of creating and verifying the quality of engineering deliverables and documentation created by Product Engineering teams during proposal-, development- and sustaining phases
• Management and provision of capability (skilled resources) and capacity in accordance with validated Program Management demand either deployed directly or by the Business Management team
• Identification (in corporation with Product Group and Technology) and delivery of professional development and training for all engineering expertise with the Product Engineering function in line with strategic capability needs of the Business Line
• Develop and maintain approval capability and capacity including processes as per the QMS/DOA requirements i.e., checkers, approvers, authorisers, Compliance Verification Engineers (CVE) as appropriate and integration in the BMS/QMS of the appropriate manufacturing organisation.
• Development and maintenance of Product Engineering methods, processes, tools including awareness and implementation of industry best practices
• Provide both technical and process guidance to the Program teams and accountable for Technical Authority roles within the different engineering programs teams, with the focus on requirements, Means of Compliance (MoC) and MoC evidence
• Responsible for the engineering data (technical, process, roles and responsibilities) supporting engineering program proposals to customers and the discussions on the proposal with the customer
• Demonstrate a proactive approach to continuous improvement and LEAN Enterprise within the function
• Proactively support Engineering Business Operations Management team to manage functional engineering activities at different sites (customers, sites and work package off-load activities to approved external suppliers) according to budgetary constraints and required flexibility of the Business Line
• Perform Design Reviews of data before reviews are performed with the customer and responsible for the engineering input data of Life Cycle Gate Reviews
• When required, represent the Product Engineering Function at the customer at Preliminary Design Reviews (PDR), Critical Design Reviews (CDR), Design Visual Inspections and Technical Review Boards (TRB’s) inter alia
• Functional responsibility for all Product Engineering issues related to existing, future or legacy platforms including establishing and maintaining Design Organisation Approvals (or similar) via the airworthiness authorities and/or customer
• Support the GKN operations (manufacturing) organisation for Built to Print (BtP) programs as requested
• Monitor and maintain personal and company performance objectives
• Address performance issues of Product Engineering functional staff in a timely manner and encourage excellent performance in all aspects of the job
• Develop and maintain requirements, practices and tools of Product Engineering data management including control and management of Product Engineering data
• Develop in corporation with the Business Line (Product Groups and Technology) the strategy of Product Development of future business
• Participate in the review board of relevant TRL reviews

How You'll Contribute

To help us make a difference, you’ll bring your passion and talent for what you do along with the following skills, experience, qualifications and attributes:

Essential:

• Experience in the field of Aerospace Engineering
• Previous experience in a management position
• Degree or equivalent in Aerospace Engineering or similar functional discipline
• Experience in the successful execution of large-scale non-recurring projects
• Experience in relevant product design, verification and certification (including relevant CS 25/FAR25 subparts or defence equivalents)
• Experience of business processes with regard to engineering, manufacturing, finance, etc. as used in the aerospace industry
• Previously held technical authority / approval signatory status
• Experience of configuration control 
• Prior experience of building and leading teams

Desirable:

• Experience in the (technical) management of complex organizations
• Experience leading change across a business unit
• Experience of EASA/FAA or equivalent defence design office requirements and AS9100D requirements
• Lean, Six-sigma or similar cont. improvement system qualifications (eg. Black-belt)
• Experience of working in complex multi-national organisational/matrix structures

We are looking for people who want to make a difference, talented members with the skills and passions to become the best of the future in what they do. To be successful in this role you have excellent communication and interpersonal skills along with good verbal and written command of English. 
 

What We'll Offer

Once you’re on board you’ll get the following perks and benefits:
 

• Competitive Salary 
• 8% Holiday Allowance
• 30 days holiday
• Commuting Allowance or company car
• Applicable Conditions; GKN Fokker Handbook and / or CLA Metalektro
• Pension – Fully meeting the provisions of the metal industry via the PME pension fund
• An opportunity to earn profit dependent bonus
• Voluntary Health Insurance
• Voluntary Other Insurances

As well as a competitive package we’ll offer you a world of opportunity. We want to see your career fly!  We’ll support your career progression by providing you with learning and development opportunities.  That’s the beauty of being part of a global business, once you’re on board you never know where you career journey may take you! 
 

Why Join Us

A Great Place to work needs a Great Way of Working
Everyone is welcome to apply to GKN.  Through our commitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging and by living our five powerful principles we’ve created a culture where everyone feels welcome to contribute.  It’s a culture that won us ‘The Best Workplace Culture Award’ last year.  By embracing and celebrating what makes us unique we encourage everyone to bring their full self to work. We’re also committed to providing an accessible recruitment process, so if you require reasonable adjustments at any stage during our recruitment process please get in touch and let us know.

Hybrid Work Approach
We understand our employees thrive by working differently, what works for one may not work for another, offering different ways of working is core to us creating a great employee experience. We’re pleased to provide a hybrid working approach enabling you to balance your time between working remotely and working in our offices.  We’re also keen for our employees to achieve a work life balance so we’re happy to discuss flexible working options with you should the role be able to accommodate it. 

Join us and keep the world moving … click on the link below to apply