Composite Engineer

Day-to-day Responsibilities:

• Design lightweight composite airframes, wings, fuselages, launch tubes, radomes, and structural components.
• Select suitable composite materials including carbon fibre, glass fibre, Kevlar, honeycomb cores, foam cores, prepregs, and resins.
• Develop laminate schedules, ply orientations, and structural reinforcement strategies.
• Design moulds, tooling, jigs, fixtures, and manufacturing aids.
• Perform structural calculations and FEA for composite components using ANSYS or equivalent software.
• Optimise components for weight, stiffness, strength, vibration, and manufacturability.
• Execute manufacturing processes including:
  • Hand lay-up
  • Vacuum bagging
  • Vacuum infusion
  • Prepreg lay-up
  • Autoclave/Oven curing
  • Compression moulding (where applicable)
• Develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for composite production.
• Conduct material qualification and validation testing.
• Perform failure analysis and root cause investigations.
• Work closely with aerodynamics, mechanical, electronics, manufacturing, and flight testing teams.
• Support prototype development through production readiness.
• Ensure quality standards through dimensional inspection and NDT techniques such as ultrasonic testing, tap testing, and thermography where applicable.
• Continuously improve manufacturing efficiency, yield, and cost. Composite engineers in aerospace commonly bridge design, analysis, tooling, manufacturing, testing, and quality functions.