Senior Production Engineer
Holt Engineering
Location: Horsham (On-site)
Salary: £45,000 – £50,000 per annum
We are looking for an experienced Senior Production Engineer to lead the development and optimisation of production capability for complex, defence-grade electro-mechanical systems. This is a technically focused, senior role with influence across design, industrialisation and full-rate manufacturing, ensuring products are engineered for reliability, compliance and scalable delivery.
Role Purpose
You will translate hardware designs into robust, repeatable production processes and drive manufacturing excellence through disciplined process development, configuration control and risk management. Working closely with design engineering, operations, quality and supply chain, you will champion Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA), lead continuous improvement and ensure production readiness from prototype through to series manufacture in a secure, highly regulated environment.
Key Responsibilities
- Translate hardware designs into scalable production processes that meet defence standards for manufacturability, repeatability and compliance.
- Develop and optimise production workflows, including tooling, fixtures, assembly methods and test procedures.
- Lead root cause analysis and corrective actions for production issues, driving continuous improvement and reducing defects.
- Collaborate with design engineering to influence early design decisions and align with production capability.
- Create and maintain manufacturing documentation: build instructions, process specifications, PFMEAs and control plans.
- Support New Product Introduction (NPI) from prototype through to full-rate production.
- Ensure compliance with defence, safety and quality regulations, including configuration control and traceability.
- Manage production readiness activities: capability assessments, equipment qualification and process validation.
- Work with suppliers and internal teams to resolve technical issues and ensure component manufacturability and quality.
- Drive cost-effective production solutions without compromising performance, reliability or security.
- Assist the quality department with inspection and investigation activities.
- Develop and manage CAPEX proposals, including ROI analysis and investment appraisal.
- Perform engineering analysis to reduce test equipment and production assembly downtime.
- Develop best practices to improve production capacity, quality and reliability.
- Support purchasing with supplier management, process improvement and corrective action.
- Assist with production staff training and the development of workmanship standards across Mechanical and Electrical teams.
- Ensure full compliance with health and safety regulations, company policies and the Quality Manual.
- Degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Manufacturing or Production Engineering (or equivalent experience).
- 10+ years’ experience in defence, aerospace, automotive or another highly regulated environment.
- Proven experience leading NPI activities: process development, prototyping and transition to full-rate manufacturing.
- Deep understanding of DFM/DFA principles and the ability to embed manufacturability into early-stage design and industrialisation.
- Strong working knowledge of 3D CAD systems, with ability to interrogate models for DFMA, tolerance analysis and tooling development.
- Demonstrated experience in manufacture and integration of complex electro-mechanical systems, including PCB assemblies and precision mechanical components.
- Working knowledge of defence and industry standards (e.g. IPC, MIL-STD) within regulated manufacturing environments.
- Proven capability to lead root cause investigations and implement corrective/preventive actions using structured methodologies (e.g. 8D, DMAIC, 5-Why).
- Experience driving continuous improvement focused on cost reduction, yield improvement, cycle time optimisation and process capability.
- Excellent communication skills and the ability to work cross-functionally in a fast-paced, regulated environment.
- Experience supporting products through full lifecycle stages: prototype, LRIP and full-rate manufacture.
- Experience with automated test systems or production automation.
- Knowledge of configuration management and controlled documentation systems.
- Experience in staff supervision or mentoring.
- Experience supporting audits or regulatory reviews.
You will be a technically strong, solutions-focused Senior Production Engineer with a track record of delivering robust, compliant and scalable manufacturing solutions in a regulated environment. You are comfortable influencing design, leading process development and mentoring others, and you thrive where engineering rigour, quality and programme delivery are critical.
If you are looking for a senior technical role with real impact on how complex defence products are designed, industrialised and manufactured, we would like to hear from you.
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