Production Engineer

At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work — and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history.

Role

A key member of the Hardware Engineering team, this role will work to manage the successful manufacture of control systems within the Defence industry. The role is ideal for an experienced Production Engineer with a background in, or working knowledge of, Electrical Engineering to grow the Production Engineering capabilities.

The principal tasks will be to visit external site visits working closely with our suppliers to ensure their production activities are managed in accordance with appropriate procedures, to defined standards and to timescales to meet programme objectives. The majority of the manufacturing will be undertaken by third parties but will require customer interaction in a hybrid fashion with visits to numerous supplier sites supporting manufacture, testing and inspection, as required.

Ideally, an understanding of electrical systems and components on a variety of Defence programmes from a manufacturing perspective is preferred.

Key responsibilities

• Own, manage and maintain both company and programme specific processes and procedures to enable successful manufacture
• To provide technical liaison between Northrop Grumman design teams, our customers, quality teams and production suppliers
• To review and sign off control system designs for manufacturability, ideally from an electrical engineering perspective
• Control change management in the event of customer, supplier or internal design changes throughout production phases
• Support preparation and execution of Factory Acceptance Test procedures, working with multiple stakeholders
• Ability to diagnose problems and make key stop/go decisions, ideally from an electrical perspective
• To provide cost and schedule estimates through impact assessments driven by change
• Generate progress reports and key performance indicators between our suppliers and our customers
• Generate documentation in accordance with company and customer procedures/deliverables
• To inspect electrical wiring and assembly in a quality assured environment, using electrical drawings, wiring schedules and schematics
• Provide piece part and product preparation (e.g. for quality inspection, testing and qualification purposes)
• Ensure manufacturing times are met with involvement in the estimation to complete activities
• Check and complete all paperwork associated with the manufacturing data pack
• Maintain to the highest level, to defined standards and product quality
• Ensure compliance with all associated procedures applicable to the manufacturing process
• Maintain a safe working environment
• Contribute to an environment of process improvement
• Ability to liaise with customers on site and undertake modification, if required
• Ability to work within confined spaces to carry out wiring modifications, if required
• Ability to read and interpret electrical drawings, schematics and instructions
• Ability to use equipment, tools and measuring instruments associated with the manufacturing of electrical wiring and cable assemblies
• To be aware of and comply with company standards of conduct and all relevant statutory requirements

General operational duties

• Attend department meetings as required
• Remain compliant with all applicable processes and procedures
• Support the design engineers throughout the design and development phases

Competency/skill requirements

• Adept at problem-solving, able to develop solutions to a variety of problems
• Good attention to detail
• Organised, adept at workload management and prioritising appropriately to meet deadlines
• Flexible and responsive to changing priorities
• Proactive team worker, equally self-motivated and able to work autonomously
• Good interpersonal skills, able to engage effectively with all audiences/stakeholders
• Fluent in written and spoken English
• Strong customer focus
• Engaging ‘can do’ attitude

Person specification

Essential qualifications / experience 

• Proven experience as a manufacturing/production engineer
• Ability to work independently on own initiative, as well as within a collaborative team environment
• Ability to work under pressure in a complex and rapidly changing environment
• Hold SC clearance or ability to achieve it

Preferred qualifications/experience 

• Understanding and working knowledge of Defence programmes
• Electrical safety testing experience
• Understanding and working knowledge of electrical build standards
• Understanding of Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) based control systems
• IPC certified

Other requirements

• Travel requirements: Regular UK travel may be required to attend customer, supplier and training sites
• Clearance requirements: Post-holder must hold and maintain UK Government security clearances

Looking for flexibility? At Northrop Grumman UK we have hybrid working arrangements. Talk to us at the application stage about what may be possible.

Northrop Grumman is committed to equality and diversity in our workplace. Northrop Grumman provides equal employment opportunity to all employees and applicants without regard to an individual's protected status, including race/ethnic origin, color, nationality, national origin, ancestry, sex/gender, gender identity/expression, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity, religion or belief, creed, age, disability, genetic information, or any other protected status or characteristic.