Mission Brief

As PA Engineer - Structures & CFRP, you provide hands-on product assurance for primary and secondary structural flight hardware during production and acceptance. You ensure that approved manufacturing processes, work instructions, inspection steps and quality controls are consistently followed on the shop floor to support structural integrity, mission success and repeatable production.

This is a production-facing assurance role, not a design engineering role. You will work closely with Structures Engineering, Manufacturing, NDT/NDI, Materials Laboratory, Supplier Quality and Configuration Management to verify that approved materials, processes, inspections and acceptance requirements are correctly applied and documented in daily production.

Your Role in Our Space Mission:

Own product assurance activities for metallic and CFRP structural flight hardware during production and acceptance.
Maintain a regular presence on the shop floor and verify that production follows approved drawings, work instructions, process specifications and inspection plans.
Identify and escalate deviations in lay-up, cure, bonding, machining, assembly, handling, environmental controls and other critical structural processes.
Ensure critical characteristics, acceptance criteria, hold points and required verification evidence are understood, followed and recorded in production.
Review production records and qualification evidence from a product assurance perspective and confirm readiness before critical manufacturing steps.
Verify correct execution and control of special processes including composite lay-up and cure, adhesive bonding, welding, heat treatment, surface treatment and structural assembly.
Confirm that required coupons, witness samples, mechanical testing, dimensional inspection and NDT/NDI activities are completed and documented as specified.
Provide oversight of NDT/NDI strategies, technique qualification, personnel qualification and inspection coverage for critical structures.
Review internal and supplier capabilities, qualification status and production readiness for structural and CFRP hardware.
Ensure that changes to materials, processes, tooling, software, suppliers, facilities and inspection methods are approved before implementation in production.
Lead or support risk-based disposition of structural and composite non-conformances, deviations, concessions and repair proposals.
Monitor shop-floor process compliance and production performance, identify recurring issues and drive practical preventive actions and lessons learned.
Ensure structural acceptance evidence is complete, coherent and available to support certification, product acceptance and flight readiness.
Maintain alignment between Product Assurance and Manufacturing Assurance while preserving independent assurance authority.

Qualification Checklist

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Composite Engineering or a related discipline.
Experience in product assurance, quality engineering, structural engineering, materials engineering or manufacturing assurance within aerospace, space, defence or another highly regulated environment.
Strong understanding of metallic structures and CFRP composite materials, manufacturing processes, structural joints and common failure modes.
Knowledge of composite lay-up, curing, bonding, trimming, drilling, assembly, repair and environmental controls.
Experience with material qualification, process qualification, First Article Inspection and production acceptance activities.
Understanding of NDT/NDI methods applicable to metallic and composite structures, including ultrasonic inspection, radiography or CT, thermography, shearography and penetrant inspection.
Ability to review structural drawings, material and process specifications, qualification reports, inspection plans and acceptance evidence.
Working knowledge of configuration management, traceability, change control, non-conformance management and risk-based decision making.