Design Release Manager

About Us

Harmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. Following the close of a $200M Series B, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, we are expanding our teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces.

Our work is guided by clear values: building technologies with real-world impact, pursuing excellence in everything we do, setting ambitious goals, and taking on the hardest technical challenges. We operate in a demanding environment where rigor, ownership, and execution are expected.

The Role

We are looking for a Senior Design Release Manager to join our Airframe Team in Lausanne. In this role, you will bridge the gap between initial mechanical concept and full-scale manufacturing, taking complete ownership of the manufacturing dossier for our composite structures and airframe modules.

From day one, you will drive Design for Manufacturability and Design for Assembly directly inside the design loop, before parts are frozen. You will set and hold the release standard, define geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, manage engineering change orders, and act as the single authority signing off on product transfer gates to manufacturing.

What You Will Do

• Manufacturing Dossier Ownership: Own and maintain the complete transfer package for your designated airframe module, including controlled drawing packages, bill of materials structures, material and finish specifications, critical characteristics, and acceptance criteria.

• Design Loop Integration: Collaborate directly with mechanical design engineers early in the design phase to optimize composite layups, bonded joints, tooling interfaces, and tolerance stack-ups while design changes are still fast and low cost.

• Transfer Gate & Release Authority: Serve as the final authority on product release packages, evaluating transfer readiness against gate standards before handing hardware over to manufacturing operations.

• Disposition & Configuration Management: Manage engineering change orders and serve as the single technical contact for drawing dispositions, non-conformance reviews, and design clarification requests from the production line.

• Supplier & Manufacturing Alignment: Work closely with production operations and external suppliers to evaluate manufacturing constraints for composite structures and precision assemblies.

• Feedback & Continuous Improvement: Analyze initial production build data and floor feedback to refine manufacturing dossiers and update gate standards for future design iterations.

What We Are Looking For

• Background: B.Sc. or M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Materials Science, or a related technical discipline.

• Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerance Analysis: Practical mastery of applying GD&T with intent, performing tolerance stack-up analyses, and defining clear acceptance criteria.

• Composite Structures & Manufacturing: Strong working knowledge of composite materials, layup sequences, tooling limitations, cure cycles, and bonded structural joints.

• Drawing & Package Control: Proven experience owning released drawing packages, managing structured bill of materials, and running engineering change order workflows.

• Early Stage Execution: Demonstrated success integrating manufacturing and assembly principles directly into active design reviews rather than conducting post-design audits.

• Language Skills: Professional proficiency in both English and French to work fluidly across design engineering and French-speaking production teams.

What We Offer

• Direct ownership in defining the release and manufacturing transfer standards for high-performance defense airframes.

• Active collaboration with design engineers early in the development cycle where engineering decisions carry high leverage.

• High-visibility technical impact across fast-scaling, hardware-centric production programs.

We look forward to hearing how you can help shape the future of autonomous defense systems at Harmattan AI.