Senior Manufacturing Engineer in Crawley

Location: Crawley, United Kingdom

In fast changing markets, customers worldwide rely on Thales. Thales is a business where brilliant people from all over the world come together to share ideas and inspire each other. In aerospace, transportation, defence, security and space, our architects design innovative solutions that make our tomorrow's possible.

Together we offer fantastic opportunities for committed employees to learn and develop their career with us. At Thales UK, we research, develop, and supply technology and services that impact the lives of millions of people each day to make life better, and keep us safer. We innovate across the major industries of Aerospace, Defence, Security and Space.

Your health and well-being matters to us and that’s why we offer you the flexibility to do what’s important to you; whether that’s part time hours, job sharing, home working, or the ability to flex your start and finish times. Where possible, we support a working pattern that suits your lifestyle and helps you reach your ambitions.

If you’re ready to shape how cutting‑edge products are built and want real influence in a high‑impact engineering environment, we’d love to hear from you!

What the role has to offer:

• End‑to‑end influence: Ownership from late‑stage industrialisation through to steady‑state production, shaping how new products are manufactured.
• High‑impact environment: Work within a multidisciplinary industrial engineering function (IPEs, Architects, Cost Engineers) on complex, high‑reliability defence products.
• Continuous improvement & innovation focus: Opportunity to embed Industry 4.0, lean methodologies, and advanced manufacturing practices across the shopfloor.

Key Responsibilities and Tasks:

• Lead and own the late‑stage industrialisation process (MRL 6–8), ensuring products are ready for full‑scale manufacture.
• Support earlier industrialisation phases in collaboration with the Industrial Architect.
• Set best‑practice standards and provide technical leadership across the Industrial Engineering team.
• Provide ongoing IPE support for production post‑launch (MRL 8+), resolving issues and optimising flow.
• Drive continuous improvement through VSM, 5S, TPM, PFMEA, control plans, and InCIght methodologies.
• Develop and optimise production processes, including BOMs, routings, MES routes, ERP setup, and MI creation.
• Ensure compliance with all health, safety, environmental and regulatory requirements across manufacturing processes.
• Identify and implement Industry 4.0 opportunities to enhance capability, efficiency, and data‑driven decision‑making.

About You:

• Proven relevant experience in a similar role and/or transferable skills.
• Background in industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering or process engineering.
• Experience of establishing new products into an industrial manufacturing environment.
• HNC or HND in a relevant discipline, an engineering apprenticeship, and/or equivalent proven experience.
• Strong understanding of lean principles and continuous improvement.
• Skilled in Design for Manufacture (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA).
• Proven ability to convey information clearly, confidently and appropriately to different audiences.
• Demonstrated experience of working across departments, building strong relationships and ensuring alignment.
• Proven presence, credibility and the ability to influence decisions and stakeholders constructively.
• Experienced in presenting data, updates and recommendations in a structured, concise and easily understood manner.
• Proven structured reasoning and sound judgement abilities.
• Experienced in driving progress for both team and project objectives, ensuring milestones are met.

Join us as a Senior Industrial Process Engineer to shape new product industrialisation, drive continuous improvement, and build your career in manufacturing engineering!

Due to the nature of the work that we do at Thales, many of our roles are subject to security restrictions. This role requires you to be a UK National and achieve Security Clearance (SC) without any caveats. It would be advantageous if currently held, however, if not currently held, it is a requirement that the successful applicant undergo, achieve, and maintain SC Clearance prior to commencing employment.

At Thales we provide CAREERS and not only jobs. With Thales employing 80,000 employees in 68 countries our mobility policy enables thousands of employees each year to develop their careers at home and abroad, in their existing areas of expertise or by branching out into new fields. Together we believe that embracing flexibility is a smarter way of working.

Thales UK is committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free recruitment process. We will provide reasonable adjustments and support to ensure neuro-diverse applicants or those with a disability or long-term condition can be their best during the recruitment process.

Great journeys start here, apply now!