Lead Industrialization Engineer

About the role

As Lead Industrialization Engineer at Destinus in Hengelo, you will lead the team that brings automation, robotics and digital tooling into production and test lines. The role is hands-on leadership at the intersection of hardware and software: selecting and integrating automated equipment and PLC/robotic systems, and connecting the floor to digital systems such as MES and data pipelines. Destinus develops unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for the defense industry.

Key responsibilities

• Lead industrialization engineering and give technical direction to industrialization engineers, focusing on automation and digitalization of production and test processes.
• Identify manual, repetitive or error-prone steps on subassembly and main production lines and lead the design and rollout of automated solutions.
• Specify, select and integrate automated equipment, robotics, PLCs and sensor-based systems for production and test cells.
• Own the architecture connecting shop-floor equipment to digital systems (MES, data pipelines, station-level software).
• Lead the industrialization of new products and engineering changes, working with NPI, Design Engineering and Data & Validation Engineering.
• Apply lean manufacturing and Theory of Constraints to find bottlenecks and target automation where it adds the most value.
• Maintain routing documentation and station-level work content, and partner with software, controls and electrical engineering to deliver validated, running equipment.
• Use production and equipment data to improve throughput, quality and labor efficiency, mentor engineers and collaborate with Production, Quality and Supply Chain.

Required profile

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechatronics, Automation, Electrical, Mechanical or Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• Strong experience in industrialization, automation or manufacturing engineering in aerospace, defense, automotive or another complex hardware environment.
• Proven experience specifying, integrating or programming automated equipment, robotics or PLC-based systems.
• Experience leading technical projects or teams and coordinating across engineering, controls and production.
• Professional working proficiency in English; Dutch is a plus.

Required skills

• Understanding of shop-floor connections to MES, SCADA and data pipelines.
• Lean manufacturing, line balancing and Theory of Constraints.
• Routing documentation, MBOM structures and engineering drawings, electrical/controls schematics.
• Hands-on problem solving and willingness to work on the production floor.