Manufacturing and Process Lead

Canada Rocket Company•Toronto, ON

About The Position

Canada Rocket Company is building a sovereign launch capability for Canada. We're looking for a Manufacturing and Process Lead to champion the fit out, deployment, qualification, control, and industrialization fabrication processes that turn our vehicle designs into reliable, flight-ready hardware. Alongside growing the manufacturing and process teams, you will work across structures, propulsion, fluids, integration teams, and executive teams to define and deploy CRC’s manufacturing approach. You will drive the development of the machine that builds the machine, further solidifying supply base partnerships and deploying in-house capability that allows us to build our vehicles at rate. You will additionally guide the selection and qualification of materials, fabrication methods, and process controls, leading the resolution of real-world manufacturing challenges.

Requirements

Experience in leading or building manufacturing engineering, materials engineering, or process engineering function for aerospace hardware or similarly demanding environments.
Experience establishing and commissioning tooling and advanced manufacturing capability.
Deep working knowledge of metallic material systems and fabrication processes. (machining, welding, forming, joining, heat treatment), and experience utilizing that knowledge to make decisions impacting performance, manufacturability, durability, and cost.
Experience developing, utilizing, supporting, or optimizing fabrication processes for hardware
Strong understanding of the interaction between materials and manufacturing methods, especially where fabrication route directly affects strength, fatigue performance, distortion, residual stress, crack initiation, dimensional control, or inspectability.
Experience creating and managing manufacturing documentation, process flows, work instructions, build plans, or fabrication sequences.
Strong engineering fundamentals related to material behavior, manufacturing process capability, producibility, and practical hardware realization.
Strong cross-functional leadership; able to align design engineering, production, operations, suppliers, and executive stakeholders being a manufacturing strategy.
Comfort operating with significant ambiguity and limited infrastructure
Strong communication and technical judgment, with the ability to make sound decisions that balance performance, manufacturability, schedule, scalability, and cost

Nice To Haves

Direct experience with launch vehicle, spacecraft, propulsion, pressure vessel, tank, thrust structure, manifold, or other high-performance aerospace hardware.
Experience standing up or scaling a manufacturing/materials organization from early stage through rate production
Experience with both additive manufacturing processes and traditional machining and joining methods
Experience with source qualification and supplier development for metallic raw material and fabrication processes.
Familiarity with NDT/NDE methods relevant to metallic and composite hardware
Familiarity with AS9100, NASA, ECSS, or similar aerospace process and manufacturing environments.

Responsibilities

Define and own CRC's overall manufacturing and process strategy spanning material selection philosophy, fabrication method selection, in-house vs. outsourced capability, and industrialization roadmap
Decide where CRC builds in-house capability versus deploys and manages supply-base partnerships, and drive the capital and hiring plans needed to support that
Set the standards and gates for material and process qualification, and hold the team and suppliers accountable to them
Own the make-vs-buy and supplier strategy for critical raw materials, forgings, and fabricated components; guide supplier selection, qualification, and long-term relationship management in partnership with supply chain and operations
Set direction for manufacturing documentation systems (specs, travelers, work instructions, build sequences) and ensure the team builds and maintains them to a consistent, auditable standard
Establish CRC's approach to non-conformances, rework, process escapes, and failure analysis; building the investigation process and escalation structure, and personally leading resolution of the highest-severity issues
Represent manufacturing and materials in technical reviews, trade studies, program planning, and executive-level discussions on hardware risk, schedule, and production scaling
Work with structural and mechanical engineers to define and execute the material and manufacturing engineering approach for launch-vehicle hardware, spanning material selection, process development, fabrication planning, producibility, industrialization, and build support
Define, develop, optimize, and control fabrication processes for hardware
Drive design-for-manufacture and design-for-assembly reviews with engineering teams
Partner closely with design, structures, propulsion, fluids, and integration teams to ensure hardware concepts are aligned with real process capability, source availability, and production constraints. Ensure Production capability remains ahead of design need.
Contribute to technical reviews, trade studies, and development planning related to materials, manufacturing methods, production scaling, and hardware risk reduction