Job Description

About SYOS Aerospace

SYOS is a pioneering aerospace and technology company developing the next generation of autonomous vehicles across air, land and sea. We combine advanced engineering, intelligent autonomy and innovative manufacturing to develop unmanned systems designed to operate in some of the world's most challenging environments.

As we expand our UK and European operations, we're building the production capability to take our autonomous air vehicles from engineering and development into repeatable, scalable manufacturing.

This is where you come in.

About the Role

We're looking for an experienced Production Manager to lead manufacturing operations at our UK Air Production site. This is a hands-on leadership role with responsibility for ensuring our autonomous air vehicles are manufactured safely, efficiently, on time and to the highest quality standards.

You'll lead the day-to-day production operation, overseeing production planning, people, resources, schedules and operational performance. Working closely with Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain and Project Management, you'll help turn production plans into reality and build the systems and culture needed to scale.

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead the day-to-day production operation at the SYOS Air Production site, ensuring plans are delivered safely, efficiently and to the required quality standards.
• Create, maintain and communicate daily, weekly and monthly production schedules aligned with customer and business priorities.
• Plan production resources, labour, skills, equipment and materials, identifying constraints and risks early and Drive continuous improvement across Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost and Morale (SQDCM) using lean manufacturing principles.
• Lead, coach and develop Production Team Leaders and shop-floor personnel, creating a culture of accountability, ownership and continuous improvement.
• Monitor production output, efficiency, labour utilisation, quality and schedule adherence, using KPIs to drive performance.
• Work closely with Quality to resolve non-conformances, support root cause analysis and implement corrective actions and partner with Manufacturing Engineering to improve processes, tooling, work instructions, ERP routings and overall manufacturability.
• Coordinate with Supply Chain, Stores and Purchasing to ensure materials, components and equipment are available when needed.
• Represent Production in engineering change control and New Product Introduction (NPI), assessing production readiness and implementation requirements.

What You'll Bring

We're looking for an experienced hands-on production leader who thrives in a fast-moving manufacturing environment and enjoys building capability as a business grows. We are looking for someone who has commercial awareness and an understanding of cost, productivity, efficiency, delivery performance and waste reduction.

You'll bring:

• Proven experience leading production, manufacturing or assembly operations within a UK manufacturing environment.
• Experience working in a regulated or quality-focused manufacturing environment — ideally aerospace, defence, marine, electronics or advanced engineering.
• Experience managing production schedules, production planning, managing resource plans, daily priorities and operational KPIs.
• Strong people leadership experience, including coaching and developing team leaders, technicians, operators or other shop-floor personnel.
• A strong understanding of health, safety and environmental requirements within a manufacturing environment.
• Experience using ERP/MRP systems for production planning, materials control, routings, work orders and reporting.
• Experience driving continuous improvement, root cause analysis and corrective actions.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across Production, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain and Project Management.

Qualifications & Training

A qualification in engineering, manufacturing, operations management or a related discipline (HNC/HND, apprenticeship, degree or equivalent experience) is desirable. Additional experience or qualifications in the following would be advantageous:

• IOSH Managing Safely, NEBOSH or equivalent
• Lean Manufacturing
• Six Sigma

Why Join SYOS?

This isn't a role where you'll simply maintain an established production line. You'll be joining SYOS at a pivotal stage of growth and will have the opportunity to help build and scale the manufacturing operation behind a new generation of autonomous aircraft. You'll work alongside engineers, manufacturing specialists and technology leaders to solve real-world challenges and turn innovative designs into products that can be built repeatedly, reliably and at scale.

If you're an experienced Production Manager who enjoys building teams, improving processes and making complex manufacturing operations work, we'd love to hear from you.