Senior Manufacturing Engineer - DFM

About the role

Help Build Europe's Hypersonic Capability At Hypersonica, we’re redefining what’s possible in European defence technology. We exist to deliver speed, resilience, and technological independence at a pace that sets a new standard. We are a small, elite team working on problems that matter, and solving them fast. By joining Hypersonica, you’re not stepping into a predefined role. You’re joining a talent dense environment where every individual shapes the direction of the company. Our philosophy is to hire a small number of exceptional people with broad, deep technical capability, strong judgement, and the ability to operate autonomously. We hire for talent, not rigid boxes. This role represents a business need, but the way it evolves will be shaped by the individual. If you’ve achieved what others said was impossible, or you bring a unique combination of skills that doesn’t fit a traditional mould, we want to hear from you. The work you do here directly contributes to Europe’s technological independence. What you'll do You’ll be the focal point between product development (Engineering) and industrialization (Manufacturing) Ensure manufacturing optimized design decisions from early project phases. Advise and consult the engineering team based on your expertise in manufacturing. Represent manufacturing in concept development, design meetings and design reviews. Flagging risks and proactively developing solutions and suggestions for improvements. Follow the entire manufacturing engineering process until full production rate to capture lessons learned and best practices from each program to implement into following design projects. Develop tools and processes to ensure an effective and efficient DFM process, supportive to Engineering teams and overall accelerating the time to market and efficiency. Suggest technologies and processes to be considered. Initiate strategic competence build-up if beneficial and required to a program. Work with vendors and equipment manufacturers to identify innovative solutions to manufacturing problems. Drive co-development for highly specialized processes & technologies. Operate as a manufacturing all‑rounder, bridging detailed process design with factory‑level thinking to ensure coherent design and seamless integration into the manufacturing system at exceptional industrialization speed. Identify process‑level risks and trade‑offs early, driving mitigations through design, analysis, or process changes. Produce and maintain clear documentation, including drawings, specifications, and design justifications. Act as a technically credible problem‑solver in ambiguous environments, closing decisions and keeping programs moving at pace. Who you are A senior Manufacturing Engineer with firsthand expertise and experience in manufacturing / assembly. Ideally combined with experience in product design or previous DFM roles. Experienced working on complex, integrated manufacturing systems. Ideally in aerospace, defence, or other high‑performance, cross functional environments under intense time pressure. Managing partners and suppliers proficiently and effectively. Motivating everyone to go above and beyond to achieve common goals and timelines. Dealing well with ambiguity and uncertainty, willing to anticipate, test and reconsider if necessary. Comfortable operating at multiple levels of abstraction from detailed design to work center‑ or system‑level. Experienced working on complex, integrated systems, ideally in aerospace, defence, or other high‑performance hardware environments. Strong engineering fundamentals covering process- and product design Pragmatic and delivery‑focused, able to make sound engineering trade‑offs without over‑engineering Comfortable collaborating across disciplines and acting as a technical integrator, not just a specialist. Hands‑on by instinct, willing to support build, integration, and test when needed. Calm and effective in ambiguous, fast‑moving environme

Skills