Senior Manufacturing Engineer Tooling
Location: Filton, Bristol
Duration: 12 months with potential extension
Working Pattern: 37 hours per week, Monday Friday
Rate: GBP 45 GBP 55 p/h PAYE/Inside IR 35, depending on experience
Job Description
The Tooling Engineer is responsible for defining tooling concepts, datum strategies and production tooling requirements to support the manufacture of aerospace structures and assemblies throughout the product lifecycle. The role provides technical leadership and oversight for the design, manufacture, acceptance and qualification of production tooling, ensuring solutions are robust, repeatable and compliant with manufacturing and regulatory requirements.
Working closely with Design Engineering, Procurement, Quality and Site Production teams, the Tooling Engineer will ensure tooling solutions enable process capability, product conformity, operator ergonomics and certification requirements, while supporting efficient and safe manufacturing operations.
The role acts as the focal point for tooling technical authority, ensuring tooling designs are developed and deployed in accordance with programme schedules, cost objectives and engineering standards.
General Requirements
- Safety & Compliance: Ensures all tooling activities comply with Health, Safety, Environmental, regulatory and configuration control requirements.
- Technical Ownership: Defines tooling concepts, datum strategies and production tooling requirements, providing technical oversight through design, build, acceptance and qualification.
- Problem Solving & Process Capability: Applies structured problem-solving techniques to resolve tooling and manufacturing issues, ensuring robust, repeatable and capable production processes.
- Collaboration & Supplier Management: Works effectively with cross-functional teams and tooling suppliers to deliver tooling solutions and resolve technical, quality and schedule issues.
- Continuous Improvement: Drives Lean and continuous improvement initiatives to enhance tooling performance, ergonomics, product quality and manufacturing efficiency.
New Product Introduction & Project Support
- Support New Product Introduction (NPI) activities through the definition and delivery of tooling concepts, datum strategies and production tooling solutions.
- Provide tooling expertise during product and process development reviews to ensure manufacturability and production readiness.
- Plan and manage tooling activities to achieve programme cost, quality and schedule objectives.
- Support tooling procurement, supplier management, acceptance and qualification activities.
Manufacturing Process Development
- Develop tooling solutions that enable safe, repeatable and capable manufacturing processes.
- Define tooling requirements to support product conformity, process capability and certification requirements.
- Collaborate with Design, Manufacturing and Quality Engineering teams to optimise manufacturing methods and reduce process variation.
- Ensure tooling documentation, validation records and technical data are maintained throughout the product lifecycle.
Capacity, Capability & Scalability
- Assess current and future tooling requirements to support production rate increases and business growth.
- Develop tooling strategies that improve manufacturing capability, flexibility and operational efficiency.
- Identify opportunities for automation, standardisation and process improvement within tooling solutions.
- Support industrialisation activities to ensure manufacturing systems can meet future volume and performance requirements.
Continuous Improvement & Cost Reduction
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance tooling performance, manufacturing efficiency and product quality.
- Identify and implement tooling cost reduction opportunities through simplification, standardisation, reuse and design optimisation.
- Apply Lean Manufacturing principles to eliminate waste, reduce cycle times and improve process capability.
- Develop and implement improvements that reduce recurring tooling issues, minimise downtime and deliver measurable business benefits.
Operational Support
- Provide day-to-day technical support for production tooling, addressing quality, delivery and performance issues.
- Lead root cause investigations and implement effective corrective and preventive actions for tooling-related issues.
- Monitor tooling performance and drive continuous improvement initiatives to improve safety, quality, cost and delivery.
- Support maintenance, modification and lifecycle management of production tooling assets.
Essential Experience
- Proven experience in a Tooling Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering or Production Engineering role within a complex, high-reliability or regulated manufacturing environment.
- Strong understanding of tooling development and industrialisation, including tooling concepts, datum strategies, manufacturing readiness, process capability, tooling qualification and production ramp-up.
- Demonstrated experience specifying, developing, validating and implementing production tooling, jigs and fixtures that support safe, repeatable and compliant manufacturing processes.
- Proven ability to plan and support tooling trials, acceptance activities and qualification programmes, interpreting results and translating findings into robust production solutions.
- Strong knowledge of manufacturing processes, engineering drawings, GD&T, tolerance management and the relationship between tooling design and product conformity.
- Experience managing tooling suppliers and external partners through the design, manufacture, acceptance and deployment of tooling solutions.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify root causes, manage technical risks and implement effective corrective actions.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to clearly communicate technical concepts and issues to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Minimum of 5 years of experience in Manufacturing Engineering.
- Detailed knowledge of quality system models such as ISO9000, AS9100, or D1-9000.
- Fluent in English language, both written and spoken.
Desriable Experience
- Project / Program Management.
- Catia / NX CAD system.
- Familiarity with AS9145 APQP process or equivalent.