Composites Manager

About the role

Tekever UK is looking for a Composites Manager to build and run its composites manufacturing capability from concept to a fully equipped and staffed cell producing the composite airframes and structures for its aircraft. It is a build-it-from-scratch role, with the manager owning the area end to end: layout and footprint, pre-preg lay-up capability, material, tooling, mould control and trimming and finishing. The role is based at the Swindon site and involves spending as much time on the shop floor as at a desk.

Key responsibilities

• Design the facility footprint and workflow, including climate-controlled lay-up and clean areas, cure, trim, inspection and storage, and commission equipment such as cutting tables, autoclaves/ovens, vacuum bagging equipment, trim booths and inspection equipment.
• Plan the build-out in phases aligned to factory ramp milestones, benchmark established European plants and deploy dedicated cure, trim and inspection cells.
• Own laminate schedules, resin systems, fibre and core materials, material preparation, prepreg storage, out-life tracking and full material traceability.
• Own mould design, manufacture, maintenance and calibration, and mechanical and manual trimming and finishing.
• Build relationships with counterparts at European plants, lead knowledge-transfer exercises and feed lessons learned back into the network.
• Select material and outsourcing partners with Procurement and Manufacturing Engineering, ensuring outsourced parts meet quality standards.
• Recruit, build and lead the composites manufacturing team, define roles, shifts and skills matrix, onboard members and manage performance.
• Own documentation and quality assurance, inspection and test regimes (visual, dimensional, NDT, witness and coupon testing), and partner with Quality on root-cause analysis and corrective and preventive action.
• Ensure compliance with the quality management system (e.g. AS9100 / ISO 9001) and safety or export-control requirements, and deliver daily, weekly and monthly output to schedule, quality and cost.