Propulsion Manufacturing Engineering Manager

ABOUT FIREFLY AEROSPACE

As an end-to-end space transportation company, Firefly Aerospace is on a mission to enable our world to launch, land, and operate in space – anywhere, anytime. Our launch vehicles, lunar landers, and orbital vehicles provide government and commercial customers with full mission services from low Earth orbit to the surface of the Moon and beyond. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.

SUMMARY

The Firefly Propulsion Manufacturing Engineering (ME) Team is responsible for the fabrication, integration, test, and delivery of fully integrated propulsion systems for the Alpha, MLV launch vehicles and Blue Ghost and Elytra spacecraft vehicles. The individual MEs take profound ownership of propulsion components from the time the design is released to the delivery of a completed product. Propulsion MEs are makers and problem solvers, people who can take an idea on paper and turn it into a fully functioning component ready to support mass production of rockets and spacecraft! This position will be focused on leading a team that is driving manufacturing processes to scale production.

This position is located in at our Manufacturing and Test site in Briggs, TX, north of Cedar Park.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead a team of manufacturing engineers in the fabrication, assembly, and check out of propulsion subassemblies and engines
• Drive continuous process development and improvement with the aim of radically increasing production rate and substantially reducing cost
• Mentor members of the team through investigations of process failures and help drive corrective actions to closure
• Lead the development, test, and qualification of new production processes
• Work closely with the production teams to manage assembly build schedule and constantly improve accuracy by collecting and processing relevant data
• Establish and implement standards for manufacturing readiness reviews, new product integration, and production hand off
• Own and maintain Manufacturing controls within Firefly’s Enterprise Resource Planning software
• Drive strategic initiatives to ensure team is operating at most innovative manufacturing technology capabilities.
• Establish and implement standards for tooling and fixturing design, review, and commissioning
• Participate in design reviews to drive design-for-manufacturing initiatives and implement lessons learned

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related technical field
• 5+ years’ professional work experience with manufacturing complex assemblies or tools
• 1+ years of engineering leadership experience
• Deep knowledge of GD&T best practices and familiarity with ASME Y14.5
• Proven mechanical aptitude
• Able to read and interpret technical drawings and assembly instructions
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to convey methodologies for assembly and troubleshooting
• Strong interpersonal and conflict resolution skills – Must be a team player
• Proven experience with tasks requiring extreme attention to detail and prolonged mental concentration
• Ability to thrive in high stakes, stressful, short deadline environments
• Critical thinking and strong decision making ability
• Demonstrated results with scaling up business operations
• Proven demonstration of acting as process-oriented change agent

Desired

• Proven experience leading teams
• Experience with modern manufacturing principles, such as Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, etc.
• Experience with complex system assembly and hands on build experience preferably in space systems or aerospace applications
• Experience with writing assembly procedures or documentation for mechanical, electrical, or structural systems
• Experience writing test plans, procedures and identifying pass/fail criteria on systems.
• Knowledge of data analysis packages (Python/high level Excel) preferred
• Experience using CAD and FEA-based analysis software

Firefly offers outstanding benefits for our employees, including generous health, dental and vision plans with low plan deductibles, parental leave, educational reimbursement, short term disability, pet Insurance, and flexible PTO options.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Firefly is governed based on merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.