Manufacturing Engineer - CAM (NC Programmer)

Fantastic challenges. Amazing opportunities. GKN Aerospace is reimagining air travel: going further, faster and greener! Fuelled by great people whose expertise and creativity sets the standards in our industry, we’re inspired by the opportunities to innovate and break boundaries. We’re proud to play a part in protecting the world’s democracies. And we’re committed to putting sustainability at the centre of everything we do, opening up and protecting our planet. With over 16,000 employees across 32 manufacturing sites in 12 countries we serve over 90% of the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers and achieved sales of £3.6bn in 2025. There are no limits to where you can take your career.

Job Summary Based at our East Cowes site and reporting into the Functional CAM Lead, the Manufacturing Engineer (CAM) will be working across both our Civil and Defence Business lines, providing NC Programming support to operational and development programmes to enable and deliver zero defect projects, utilising engineering and problem-solving skills.

The new Manufacturing Engineer will learn to generate NC programs using CAM & Simulation software for a range of processes such as Lectra Cloth Cutting, 3 & 5 Axis CNC machining, Waterknife cutting and Laser Projection, to manufacture composite aircraft components

Job Responsibilities

In This Role, You Will

• Participate in the development of NC Programming solutions through:

• The implementation of NC Programs, from original concept through to production.

• Develop NC Programming solutions for high degree of process capability utilising the GKN standard Zero Defect Manufacturing (ZDM) tool suite to demonstrate as such.

• Ensure release of programmes complies with GKN Cowes BMS procedures and processes.

• Utilise root cause analysis, preventative and corrective action to reduce/eliminate non-conformances.

• Provides technical input for manufacturing process development and integration for production.

• Provide specialist knowledge to production activities with the ultimate goal of improving efficiency, product quality and the reduction of non-conforming parts

• Exemplifying a safety-first mind-set and ensuring compliance with the GKN Aerospace Health, Safety and Environmental policies and standards.

• Maintain positive, team relationships with internal customers and co-workers.

• Continuously improve production processes by implementing Lean initiatives.

Job Qualifications Suitable candidates will be able to demonstrate:

Essential

• HNC qualification (or equivalent) within an Engineering related subject, OR an NVQ Level 3 (or equivalent) engineering qualification supplemented by suitable amount of workplace experience
• Previous experience of working within the Aerospace (or similar) manufacturing industry
• Good awareness and understanding of Numerical Controlled (NC) machine tools and automated manufacturing processes.
• Ability to read and understand engineering manufacturing drawings and technical documents
• Experience using IT packages such as MS Office

Desirable

• Experience of CAD/CAM Software such as Catia V5 and Vericut, within a Manufacturing environment
• Knowledge of, and ability to use and implement, LEAN tools and techniques

We’ll offer you fantastic challenges and amazing opportunities. This is your chance to be part of an organisation that has proven itself to be at the cutting edge of our industry; and is committed to pushing the boundaries even further. And with some of the best training on offer in the industry, who knows how far you can go?

A Great Place to work needs a Great Way of Working Everyone is welcome to apply to GKN. We believe that we can only achieve our ambitions through a coming together of diverse minds who enjoy collaborating in an inspirational environment. Through our commitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging and by living our five powerful principles we’ve created a culture where everyone feels welcome to contribute. It’s a culture that won us ‘The Best Workplace Culture Award’. By embracing and celebrating what makes us unique we encourage everyone to bring their full self to work.

We’re also committed to providing an accessible recruitment process, so if you require reasonable adjustments at any stage during our recruitment process please get in touch and let us know.

We are the place where human dreams, plus human endeavour, shape the future of aerospace innovation and technology.