Senior Engineer - Composites & CAE

What to Expect

The Senior Engineer – Composite Materials & Manufacturing CAE will provide specialist technical capability at the interface between composite material testing, manufacturing processes, and CAE.

The role will support the development and integration of composite material technologies by delivering robust material characterisation, manufacturing simulation, and technical analysis to enable accurate and efficient virtual development of McLaren composite structures.

Working closely with the Materials and CAE specialists, the role will ensure that material behaviour and manufacturing processes are appropriately understood, characterised, and represented within the CAE toolchain.

The role is focused on the delivery of defined technical work packages and the generation of high-quality engineering outputs, rather than team leadership or technical ownership of the overall roadmap.

Composite Material Characterisation:

• Deliver material test and characterisation activities for composite constituent and laminate systems.
• Develop and execute test programmes to establish the mechanical and physical behaviour required for CAE and manufacturing simulation.
• Analyse and interpret material test results, identifying trends, anomalies, and root causes.
• Support the development of CAE-ready material data and material models.
• Work within the Advanced Materials team to identify material data gaps and define appropriate additional testing.

Composite Manufacturing CAE:

• Deliver manufacturing simulations for composite structures, including draping, forming, moulding, and associated manufacturing processes.
• Assess the impact of manufacturing processes on fibre orientation, thickness, defects, wrinkles, distortion, and structural performance.
• Translate manufacturing simulation outputs into information that can be used effectively within structural CAE.
• Support the development and validation of manufacturing simulation methodologies for new composite technologies.
• Work closely with manufacturing engineers to ensure virtual manufacturing predictions reflect production processes and constraints.

Material–Manufacturing–CAE Integration:

• Develop an understanding of the complete relationship between material properties, manufacturing process, structural performance, and CAE prediction.
• Support the integration of manufacturing-derived material information into structural simulation models.
• Investigate the influence of manufacturing variability and defects on structural performance.
• Support correlation between material tests, manufacturing simulations, component tests, and structural CAE.
• Provide technical insight to help ensure that virtual models represent realistic production-intent structures.

Technical Development:

• Support the development of new methodologies for composite materials and manufacturing simulation.
• Investigate emerging composite materials and manufacturing technologies and assess their suitability for future McLaren applications.
• Apply first principles, engineering calculations and simplified analytical approaches to validate simulation outputs and support technical decision‑making.
• Contribute to automation and improved workflows for material testing, data processing, manufacturing simulation, and CAE integration.
• Produce high-quality technical reports, analysis, and recommendations to support engineering decisions.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Work closely with Advanced Materials, Composite CAE, Design, Manufacturing, Testing, and Vehicle Engineering teams.
• Liaise with external suppliers, academic institutions, and research partners on specific technical development activities.
• Communicate technical findings clearly and effectively to both specialist and non‑specialist stakeholders.
• Support the Lead…