Manufacturing Engineering Manager - Paint

McLaren Automotive

Woking, United Kingdom

What to Expect

Reporting to the Head of Manufacturing Engineering, you will be responsible for leading a team of high performing Manufacturing Engineers in the delivery of planned and proven processes to cost and time constraints.

Responsible for leading the manufacturing engineering function that supports all paint shop operations around the processing of carbon fibre bodies and associated components. This role ensures that paint processes are safe, stable, efficient, cost effective, and capable of delivering the required quality standards.

Key responsibilities will include:

HS&E compliance, process improvement.
Process, tooling and equipment definition, validation, and implementation.
OEE and HPC.
Process Capability.
Technical guidance.
Resource management.
Cost Management.
Quality assurance ISO-9001/IATF 16949.

What You'll Do

Leadership & Management:

Lead a team of Manufacturing Engineers to be high performing individuals.
Allocate resource to support daily production, NPI, equipment and process validation and improvement projects.
Foster a culture of safety, quality, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Collaborate closely with Production, Quality, Maintenance, and HS&E leaders.

Process Ownership:

Own paint process capability, including application, curing, film build control, and surface quality.
Manage paint recipes, mixing systems, applicators, robotics, and environmental controls.

Production Support:

Provide daily engineering support to solve process issues and minimise downtime.
Conduct root cause analysis (RCA) and implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence.
Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) including FPY, waste, downtime, paint usage, defects, OEE.

Continuous Improvement:

Lead projects using lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and problem-solving methodologies.
Reduce paint consumption, energy use, rework, and scrap through process optimisation.
Drive automation improvements including robot programming and application optimisation.
Implement best practices for defect prevention (e.g., contamination control, airflow management).
Be up to date with the latest advancements in manufacturing technologies and automotive engineering, Industry 4.0.

New Product Introduction (NPI):

Plan and execute engineering activities for new colours, materials, and product variants.
Validate new paint materials, equipment, tooling, and processes.
Ensure equipment readiness, PFMEA, process flow, control plan, and standard work updates.

Equipment & Maintenance Coordination:

Work with maintenance to ensure paint equipment reliability and planned maintenance routines.
Support upgrades of robots, booths, ovens, conveyors, air handling, and fluid delivery systems.
Ensure compliance to environmental permits and VOC/solvent usage regulations.

Health, Safety & Environmental:

Ensure all paint operations comply with EHS standards and regulatory requirements.
Support incident investigation and resolution.

What You'll Bring

Degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality Management, or suitable industry experience.
Proven leadership background in manufacturing environment is essential, ideally automotive.
Ability to understand risk and mitigate thorough analysis and factual data.
Robust understanding and proven application of quality principles to encompass a variety of manufacturing processes.
Proven experience with budgetary control and achievement of cost targets
A desire to digitally transform the manufacturing process through automation of equipment and AI system development to streamline processes and data collation.
Ability to foster a positive team culture and drive high performance in others.
Experience in developing and implementing improvements to optimise production efficiency and quality.
Strong technical knowledge to ensure right decisions are made at the right time.

Personal attributes

Live the McLaren values.
Highly motivated, resilient, and agile.
Able to adapt your leadership style to influence and instruct accordingly.
Data driven and process focussed.
Dynamic, with the ability to respond to challenging situations in an innovative manner.
Clear Communication Skills.
Collaborator, quickly develop good working relationships / teamwork.
Empower, and develop team members.
Trustworthy. Build trust within your team, process partners, and wider organisation.
Ability to think logically whilst ensuring day to day operation objectives are achieved.