Senior Test Engineer

Fantastic challenges. Amazing opportunities.

GKN Aerospace is reimagining air travel: going further, faster and greener! Fuelled by great people whose expertise and creativity sets the standards in our industry, we’re inspired by the opportunities to innovate and break boundaries. We’re proud to play a part in protecting the world’s democracies. And we’re committed to putting sustainability at the centre of everything we do, opening up and protecting our planet.

With over 16,000 employees across 33 manufacturing sites in 12 countries we serve over 90% of the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers and achieved sales of £3.35  2023. There are no limits to where you can take your career.

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. Based at our Luton manufacturing plant you’ll do just that. Established in 1993, GKN Aerospace in Luton is a world leader in commercial and military ice protection systems and transparencies. Offering a full range of capabilities;

design, analysis, testing, certification and manufacture of electro-thermal ice protection, military fast jet canopies and flight deck windows to over 20 programmes including:
Boeing 787, Dream liner, Airbus A320, Agusta Westland, AW101, Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed, Martin F-22 Raptor. Our customers include Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, Bell Helicopters, Textron, BAE Systems, Pratt & Whitney, Leonardo. Our Luton site is home to 370+ employees and onsite facilities including onsite parking, food hub and vending machines.

The Luton Engineering & Technology team is focussed on developing product and manufacturing process technology related to aircraft ice protection systems, transparencies and coatings, and specialist structures for both civil and defence applications. We’re looking for a Senior Test Engineer with a strong non-metallic materials engineering background, to join our materials and test team to support the production and development of next generation composite aero structures, ice protection and transparency products.

The role as a Senior Test Engineer you will lead a small engineering team, supporting testing for production, research, qualification and validation of new and existing products. You shall technically support the Mechanical Test Lab, with queries, issue resolution and Material Review Board (MRB) decisions. The role will manage sustainment testing, goods in testing and develop the capability of the equipment and team within the function.

There will be occasional overnight travel required to support external testing. You will also support the work of the business to establish safe working practices and necessary level of documentation. You will be involved with projects from the planning / assembly / instrumentation / commissioning phase through to successfully performing and reporting the test. You will also be responsible for providing specialist support to existing programmes within your field of expertise, helping to resolve manufacturing issues and supporting continuous improvement efforts.

You will have a proven track record of leading and delivering technical work, with strong communication skills being confident working with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders, including non-technical audiences.

Core operational hours at our Luton site are: 07:30 - 16:30 Monday to Thursday & 07:30 - 12:30 Friday.

• Lead small engineering team, being responsible for day to day management of the Mechanical Test Lab
• Writing of test plans and reports
• Facility management, safety and 5S deployment
• Prepare, run and report out tests to customers, including tooling and hardware design and acquisition
• Drive operational improvements, including equipment and Capex proposals
• Lead technical decisions on test results and MRB queries.
• Manage material re-life and obsolescence testing
• Internal & external technical relationships with customers and suppliers
• Contribute to stakeholder management with internal/external customers, and you may lead management of supply chain partners in…