Lead Project Engineer (Mechanical Innovation)
Safran Seats - Cwmbran (South Wales)
Hybrid
Safran – Here, we craft excellence together.
At Safran, excellence is a journey – and we'd love you to be a part of it. As a trusted global leader in aerospace, defence, and space, we are proud to be a company where diversity, innovation, and opportunity come together to shape a sustainable future where we can all succeed together through a shared vision.
We are looking for passionate individuals to join our Research & Technology Department as a Lead Project Engineer for Mechanical Innovation in Cwmbran.
Safran Seats is a premium designer and manufacturer of First and Business Class seating and technology. Our passenger experience prides itself on innovation, customization, quality and industrial design.
At Safran Seats we interface with both the world's biggest airlines and airframers alike, with the largest seats portfolio of all seats suppliers. One day you could be liaising with one of the world's largest airframers, and the next, some of the biggest airline brands around the world!
In the UK, Safran Seats specialises solely in the First Class and Business Class seating markets for wide body aircraft, with industrial and engineering teams in Cwmbran and Newport, Wales and Brackley, England.
About the role:
In this new role you will lead and deliver a pipeline of mechanical innovation projects that add value to our products, through a balanced focus on leadership and hands-on engineering.
Working across premium seat subsystems, you will drive improvements in lightweighting, reliability and robustness, mechanism simplification, safety, passenger comfort/experience, cost and design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA).
You will scope and secure external funding for innovation projects, lead a small team of engineers and trainees, and be accountable for the mechanical design, creation and maintenance of our showcase technology demonstrators.
Scope of responsibilities:
You will be responsible for defining and delivering mechanical innovations that differentiate our products and support future customer needs. Reporting to the Head of R&T, you will lead a small team, setting technical direction and providing day-to-day guidance. Your team will also manage departmental prototyping and workshop facilities and ensure effective use of wider company prototype/test services.
Key Responsibilities and Duties
- Deliver a portfolio of mechanical innovation projects that improve weight, reliability, safety, passenger comfort and cost.
- Provide line management for a small team of engineers and trainees, including objective setting, performance reviews, and day-to-day coaching.
- Secure financial support through proposals and engagement with funding bodies.
- Provide hands-on technical leadership: perform and review mechanical design work, using analysis tools (e.g. FEA, tolerance and kinematics analysis) to de-risk designs.
