Field Engineer

MAKO is on a mission to make the global aviation fleet radically more efficient, saving US$8 billion in fuel and cutting 40 million tonnes of CO2 every year.

Your Mission

Our riblet film is how we get there, and we need a Field Applications Engineer to prove it works where it matters most: at 38,000 feet, on commercial aircraft flying real routes across the globe. This is engineering with a passport. You'll design and run the tests that show how our film performs in the real world, from small test patches to fully-covered aircraft in active service. You'll be our technical presence in the field, building relationships with airline and aircraft partners, troubleshooting on the ground, and carrying insights back to shape the next generation of designs. Installation is part of the job, but the real value is in what we learn from it: every flight is a data point, and you'll own the loop between hangar and lab.

The right person is easygoing and adaptable, someone who stays relaxed when plans change, gets on easily with partners and crew, and keeps a cool head when a test doesn't go as expected. You'll report to the V&V Team Lead. Expect frequent domestic and international travel, sometimes at short notice. If a packed bag by the door sounds like your kind of role, we'd love to hear from you.

What You Will Do

• Develop and perform field testing methodologies that can be used to assess identified performance requirements of MAKO Riblet Film. The performance of tests will often be at airports (both domestic and international), with an expectation that site visits can occur at a frequency of up to 1-2 times per month.
• Build and maintain relationships with airline partners and on-ground teams, including maintenance crews and MRO technicians, acting as a trusted technical point of contact in the field.
• Assess and quantify risks that could impact test objectives.
• Provide rapid customer support and perform problem-solving investigations for any confirmed or potential nonconformities identified during field testing initiatives.
• Prepare documentation for field tests, including traceability documentation, conformance documents, installation procedures, support strategies, and non-conformance management plans.
• Perform post-testing reviews, documenting updates to verification and validation criteria, risk assessments, and performance results, and recommend changes to the development pathway.

What Success Looks Like

• First Month: You will learn about MAKO's field installation and testing objectives for aircraft applications in the short, medium, and long term. You will learn more about the MAKO team, our processes, and how we embody our values of lift over drag, active transparency and changing the boundary conditions.
• First Six Months: You will have developed the test protocols for and performed your first field installation. You will provide ongoing support and testing of MAKO material, feeding back results to the team to ensure learnings are implemented.
• First Year: You will have performed multiple installations of MAKO film on aircraft. You will collect and collate data and analyse results to identify relevant trends and differences in performance. Based on your findings, product improvements will be ready to install on planes for in-field testing.

About You

• Bachelor of Engineering or Science (Mechanical, Aerospace, Materials, Systems, Chemistry or equivalent).
• You've got hands-on experience with field or laboratory testing - you're comfortable picking up surface inspection tools, environmental measurement gear, and whatever the job calls for, and you enjoy the physical reality of working around aircraft and in operational environments.
• You're equally comfortable in a hangar conversation with LAME personnel as you are in an engineering review - you build trust quickly across different working cultures and know how to get the information that matters.
• A sharp eye for detail: this role sits at the interface between the field and the development team, and the quality of what gets captured out there directly shapes what gets built next. You notice things others miss and document them with precision.
• Experience providing technical customer support and rapid assistance is preferred.
• Experience working in regulated environments (aerospace, medical, automotive) is preferred.
• Willing to travel at a frequency of up to 1-2 times per month to both domestic and international locations.

Why You Should Join MAKO

• Impact: Aviation is one of the hardest to abate industries, and its share of global emissions is only growing. Join our mission to improve the efficiency of the global fleet and save millions of tonnes of CO2 every year.
• Technology: Our technology leverages the drag-reducing properties of shark skin to make aircraft more efficient. You'll be exposed to expertise and developments in materials, photolithography, fluid dynamics, and scale manufacturing.
• Team: Our team focuses on achieving our mission. We live our values of lift over drag, active transparency, and changing the boundary conditions, and we welcome new team members who want to do the same.
• Corporate Jet: We have (most of) a corporate jet. It won't fly, but it sure does look cool.

Ready to make every flight count? We'd love to hear from you.