Director of Applied AI

iCOMAT • Swindon, Swindon

15h • Hybrid

About The Position

ICOMAT is an advanced manufacturing company that invented Rapid Tow Shearing (RTS) - the only proven technology for producing defect-free curved-fiber composite parts at industrial scale. We deliver the lightest structures possible for aerospace, automotive, defense, and space, at a rate and cost efficiency that far exceeds existing composite production processes. We build and operate automated factories for composite materials, delivering components to Tier 1 suppliers and OEMs. The business has three main divisions: development of automated production machines, development of software design and production tools, and operation of the factory. We work with 25+ customers and completed the largest ever Series A in composites manufacturing to fuel a significant scale-up, with growth plans that will see the business multiply in size over the next two to three years and expand operations into the UK, Europe and the US. The business has currently more than 130,000 sqm of production capacity with manufacturing facilities in the UK (Gloucester and Swindon) and the US (Dayton, Ohio); a Hardware R&D Centre in Bristol, UK; and a Software R&D Centre in Athens, Greece. We are hiring a Director of Applied AI to turn that data advantage into compounding business value, fast. Series B is the moment to prove that AI is not a story we tell. It is a measurable engine inside the company.

Requirements

• A builder who ships and breaks things on purpose to learn faster.
• Senior individual contributor and player coach who writes code, designs systems, and leads by example.
• Not allergic to a whiteboard or a shop floor.
• Shipped applied machine learning solutions in a real industrial, manufacturing, robotics, or hard tech setting (not just dashboards or demos).
• Speaks fluent KPI and can defend an AI investment with numbers.
• Collaborates without ego with software, IT, design, manufacturing, tooling, and QC leaders.
• Comfortable with ambiguity, fast cadence, and ownership.
• MLOps and production deployment experience at scale.

Nice To Haves

• Background in composites, advanced manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, or defense.
• Experience with computer vision applied to automated inspection, generative design, reinforcement learning for process control.
• Prior experience standing up an AI function from zero inside a fast moving company.

Responsibilities

• Turn data advantage into compounding business value, fast.
• Move from reactive inspection to predictive quality, with AI assisted in process monitoring and automated root cause analysis.
• Reduce design iteration time, automate repetitive engineering decisions, and unlock generative design where it pays.
• Accelerate tool design, optimize tool life, and bring intelligence to tool path generation.
• Improve manufacturing throughput, reduce scrap, predict defects before they happen, close the loop between machine data and process control.
• Ship working systems and measure them in the language the business already speaks.
• Own the AI strategy and roadmap, owned end to end and reviewed with the CEO.
• Manage a small, sharp portfolio of MVPs running in parallel across design, manufacturing, tooling, and QC.
• Make data architecture decisions that make AI possible across the product lifecycle, in close partnership with the software team and IT.
• Make decisions on tooling and model selection (build, buy, fine tune, or wrap) to achieve fastest time to value.
• Develop a KPI dashboard for the senior leadership team to track AI driven gains in real money and real time.
• Hire one to two operators alongside you in year one if and only if the work demands it.
• Work alongside the Software Engineering and IT teams to design world-class data architecture, tools and processes that support the global adoption of iCOMAT’s Rapid Tow Shearing technology.
• Lead the development of iCOMAT’s AI Engineering team and grow the capability in line with the growth of the company.
• Support the work of the Structures Engineering, RTS Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering teams, unlocking productivity gains and delivering measurable impact.
• Work closely with the Senior Leadership Team to align AI initiatives to the wider company goals.
• Report progress directly to the CEO and collaborate on all aspects of the AI Roadmap.

Benefits

• Competitive Salary & Benefits
• Private healthcare
• Pension scheme
• Equity options to give employees a stake in the company’s success
• Unmatched professional growth opportunities in the rapidly advancing field of composite materials.
• Inclusive, forward-thinking work environment.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed