A hands-on leadership role for an experienced composite manufacturing engineer who wants to
combine technical ownership with team leadership and help shape the next phase of Tree
Composites.

Tree Composites is looking for a Manufacturing Engineering Lead to take ownership of our day-to-day
manufacturing activities and lead our team of Manufacturing Engineers.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You will combine approximately 50% team leadership and 50% hands-on
manufacturing, industrialisation and process development.
As part of this role, you will also help shape how we manufacture in the future, leading manufacturing-related
industrialisation and automation activities as we develop more scalable production methods.

You don’t need to have built a factory or managed a large manufacturing organization before. You do need to
understand how composite products are actually made, enjoy solving problems on the shop floor, and have
demonstrated that you can lead others.
For an experienced composite manufacturing engineer who is ready to take the next step into broader
leadership, this can be a particularly exciting opportunity.

What you’ll be responsible for

You will lead our Manufacturing team, currently consisting of five engineers, several of whom also lead work
packages, QA/QC and safety activities, supported by our experienced Technical Advisor. You keep overview of
the team and take ownership of the day-to-day manufacturing operation.

Your role is to make sure our people and our manufacturing processes perform well, without losing the hands
on, pragmatic culture that got us here.

• Lead and coordinate the day-to-day work of the Manufacturing team, creating clear priorities, ownership
and follow-through.
• Coach and develop team members through regular feedback and 1:1s, recognizing good performance
while also addressing issues when things do not go as planned.
• Lead technical and manufacturing meetings and ensure decisions and actions are followed through.
• Be present on the shop floor and work with the team to identify, troubleshoot and solve manufacturing
problems.
• Use your composites experience to make sound technical decisions and act as a sparring partner for our
CTO and engineers.
• Improve manufacturing processes to make them safer, more reliable, repeatable, efficient and ready for
further scale-up.
• Lead manufacturing-related automation activities, working with our engineers and external partners to
determine where and how automation can improve our production processes and to bring new solutions
into operation.
• Help introduce the right level of structure, documentation and ways of working as Tree grows.
• Work closely with the CTO and our experienced Technical Advisor on complex technical challenges and the
further development of our manufacturing technology.

You will report directly to the CTO and have significant freedom to shape how Manufacturing develops at
Tree Composites.

The kind of person we’re looking for

First and foremost, you are a manufacturing engineer who understands composites in practice.
You are comfortable being on the shop floor, getting into the details of a process and working with engineers to
find a solution. At the same time, you naturally step back to see the bigger picture: what has priority, who owns
what, where is the team getting stuck, and what needs to change?

You also enjoy working with people. Your leadership style combines support with accountability. You give
people room to take ownership, ask questions and help them develop, while being clear about expectations
and addressing things when they are not working.

You don’t necessarily need to be an experienced Manufacturing Manager already. We are open to someone
who has built strong experience as a Senior or Lead Manufacturing Engineer, has demonstrated leadership of
people or technical teams, and is ready to take on broader team responsibility.

What we think you’ll bring

Important for this role
• Strong hands-on experience in manufacturing engineering and production environments.
• Practical experience with composite manufacturing processes.
• The technical depth to troubleshoot manufacturing problems, make engineering judgements and discuss
technical decisions with senior engineers and our CTO.
• Demonstrated leadership: you have taken ownership, coordinated or led others and are comfortable giving
direction and feedback.
• A pragmatic mindset: you enjoy turning problems into practical improvements on the shop floor.
• The ability to create overview and priorities in a fast-moving environment.

Experience that would be valuable, but isn’t essential
• Formal line-management experience.
• Experience with industrialisation or scaling manufacturing processes.
• Experience introducing automation into a manufacturing environment.
• Continuous improvement, quality or production engineering.
• Bringing new manufacturing processes, tooling or production equipment into operation.
• CAD and technical design reviews.

A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a relevant engineering discipline is preferred. More important to us is what
you have learned and accomplished in a manufacturing environment.

A valid European Union work permit is required for this position.

Why Tree Composites?

Tree Composites is developing and manufacturing composite joints for offshore wind foundations. Our
technology aims to enable faster manufacturing and reduce steel use, helping accelerate the deployment of
offshore wind.

We started in 2020 to bring technology developed through TU Delft research to market. We are now moving
from technology development towards increasingly mature and scalable manufacturing.

That creates an unusual opportunity in this role: you won’t be stepping into a finished manufacturing
organization, you will help build it.

You will work directly with our CTO and will also be supported by an experienced Technical Advisor with more
than 20 years of engineering experience. You will have significant influence over our manufacturing processes,
ways of working and the development of the team.

What we offer

• A full-time role at our location in Delft, reporting directly to the CTO.
• A meaningful role in a company working to accelerate the energy transition.
• Significant responsibility and freedom to shape Manufacturing as Tree Composites grows.
• The opportunity to participate in Tree Composites’ employee share option plan, allowing you to share in the
value we build together.
• An informal, technically driven team that enjoys what it is building.
• Opportunities to develop both your technical and leadership capabilities.
• 28 holiday days, pension and a market-competitive salary.

We believe diversity drives innovation and actively welcome people with different backgrounds and
perspectives.

You don’t need to tick every box. If you recognize yourself in the core of this role in composite
manufacturing, hands-on engineering and leading people, we’d like to hear from you.