Manufacturing Planning Engineer

Electra•Manassas, VA

8d•$140,000 - $175,000•Onsite

About The Position

As a Manufacturing Planning Engineer, you'll be the hands-on planner who turns engineering releases into practical build plans for our prototype aircraft and related test articles. The center of gravity of this role is the engineering drawing release curve and prototype production planning - connecting release status, configuration maturity, material availability, assembly logic, and test needs into clear, realistic plans the team can build to. Because we're a lean development organization, you'll also flex into adjacent industrial integration work: assembly precedence, schedule integration, supplier and tooling milestones, and basic cost and risk tracking. This isn't a senior roadmap or factory-strategy role - it's a pragmatic, structured builder who brings simple, mature planning solutions, connects the dots across functions, and helps the team make better decisions with clear data.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in production planning, manufacturing planning, industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering, or production control in aerospace, aircraft, defense, advanced mobility, or complex hardware
Practical understanding of how engineering releases, bills of material, material availability, tooling, assembly sequence, quality gates, and production schedules interact
Proven ability to work in a development environment where requirements, designs, schedules, and priorities evolve
Strong working knowledge of MS Project
Ability to build clear, practical planning structures, schedules, reports, and follow-up mechanisms, and to identify risks and gaps early and communicate them clearly
Strong analytical, organizational, and communication skills, with comfort working cross-functionally across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, logistics, production, and test
Hands-on mindset with the ability to operate at both detailed planning and cross-functional coordination levels
US Person (Citizen or Permanent Resident) required

Nice To Haves

Experience with aircraft prototype builds, flight test articles, test specimens, low-rate initial production, or development hardware
Participation in clean-sheet aircraft development programs, Part 23 aircraft, eVTOL, advanced air mobility, business aviation, or defense aircraft - especially where engineering release maturity, test articles, and industrial readiness had to be connected
Familiarity with drawing release planning, configuration effectivity, manufacturing build planning, and prototype production control
Exposure to assembly precedence networks, build sequence planning, manufacturing master schedules, or station logic
Exposure to supplier readiness, tooling milestones, factory readiness, or ramp-up planning, and basic familiarity with industrial cost tracking, CAPEX/OPEX, or schedule-risk trade-offs
Familiarity with Primavera P6, ERP, PLM, MES, QMS, or production control systems
Exposure to AS9100, aerospace quality requirements, conformity, or production certificate environments

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain prototype aircraft build plans that align engineering release dates, configuration maturity, material availability, tooling readiness, and assembly needs
Build and maintain the engineering drawing release curve that supports manufacturing and assembly activities
Translate engineering release status into manufacturing planning impacts, risks, and priorities
Manage planning configuration and effectivity assumptions for each prototype aircraft and test specimen, including travelled work, retrofit, rework, and configuration differences between aircraft
Track drawing release gaps, build constraints, long-lead needs, and risks to manufacturing readiness, and maintain planning trackers, schedules, and status reports in MS Project
Keep Product Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Production, Test, Supply Chain, Quality, and Logistics working from a common planning baseline
Provide planning support for test specimens and development hardware, connecting engineering release priorities with build and test campaign needs
Serve as backup for the assembly precedence network, keeping build planning aligned with the aircraft build sequence and assessing the impact of design changes, late releases, tooling constraints, or material gaps
Integrate prototype build plans into the broader industrial master schedule and track supplier, tooling, systems, and development milestones that affect readiness
Support basic industrial and development cost tracking, flag schedule, cost, configuration, and readiness risks early with practical mitigations, and contribute clear planning data to executive status reporting
Capture lessons learned from prototype builds and translate them into serial production planning inputs