Lead Manufacturing Engineer
About The Position
Vital Lyfe is a technology company creating personal water-making technology designed to scale where infrastructure cannot. The Lead Manufacturing Engineer will design, develop, and optimize manufacturing processes and production lines for desalination systems, from initial builds through high-rate production. The role leads design-for-manufacturing and design-for-assembly initiatives involving tooling, fixtures, robot end-effectors, conveyors, automation programming, and control systems. The engineer will work cross-functionally to select equipment and define cycle times, yield targets, cost per unit, and quality metrics. They will develop work instructions, process flows, and layout designs, and implement and validate manufacturing methods for new systems. The role owns continuous improvement efforts to reduce cost, increase throughput, and improve reliability and uptime, while collaborating with procurement, quality, test, integration teams, and external vendors and suppliers to support manufacturing scale-up and ramp-out. This is an onsite role in Torrance, California; remote or hybrid work will not be considered. The work includes hands-on development hardware activities and production-area work requiring personal protective equipment. Required PPE, including safety shoes, will be provided or reimbursed by Vital Lyfe.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial, or equivalent).
- At least 2 years as a project lead.
- Strong CAD experience, such as SolidWorks or another CAD system, and familiarity with manufacturing automation, tooling, and fixture design.
- Hands-on mindset, including comfort designing processes and working with operators and equipment to validate and refine them.
- Strong problem-solving skills and ability to operate in an ambiguous, high-growth environment.
- Clear communication across teams.
- Ability to work 100% onsite in Torrance, California; remote or hybrid work will not be considered.
- Ability to perform hands-on work on development hardware, stand, crouch, and walk for long periods, and lift up to 50 pounds.
- Wear required PPE, including safety glasses, gloves, and safety shoes, in production areas.
Nice To Haves
- Experience in consumer hardware production or systems with high-volume manufacturing.
- Knowledge of pumps, valves, pressure vessels, fluid systems, or mechanical-hardware manufacturing.
- Experience with automation programming, conveyors, robotics, and fluid or pressure equipment.
- Familiarity with Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and statistical process control (SPC).
- Experience in a hardware startup or mission-driven organization.
Responsibilities
- Design, develop, and optimize manufacturing processes and production lines for desalination systems from first builds through high-rate production.
- Lead design-for-manufacturing and design-for-assembly initiatives involving tooling, fixtures, robot end-effectors, conveyors, automation programming, and control systems.
- Work cross-functionally to select equipment and define cycle times, yield targets, cost-per-unit targets, and quality metrics.
- Develop work instructions, process flows, and layout designs; implement and validate manufacturing methods for new systems.
- Lead continuous improvement efforts to reduce cost, increase throughput, and improve reliability and uptime.
- Collaborate with procurement, quality, test, and integration teams, as well as external vendors and suppliers, to ensure smooth manufacturing scale-up and ramp-out.
Benefits
- Required personal protective equipment, including safety shoes, will be provided or reimbursed by Vital Lyfe.
- Early ownership in a high-growth, engineering-led startup.
- Build long-term career equity as the company grows.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
