Principal, Manufacturing Design Engineer

Firestorm•San Diego, CA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Firestorm Labs is seeking a Principal, Manufacturing Design Engineer to join our engineering team in San Diego. This individual contributor role requires comfort in both design reviews and on the shop floor. You will join the aircraft design team at the start of a program, ensuring designs are buildable, and then manage process design, tooling, and the transition into production. You will move with the program, contributing DFM/DFA input early on, and later focusing on process design, tool and fixture design, ground support equipment, and shipping solutions, before handing off to the manufacturing operations team. This role reports to the SVP of Engineering.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Aerospace, Manufacturing, or related discipline). Experience in lieu of a degree will not be considered.
'U.S. Person' as defined by 22 CFR § 120.62 required due to ITAR regulations.
10+ years of engineering experience in aerospace or defense, spanning design, tooling, manufacturing engineering, or NPI.
Hands-on experience with composites and metallics manufacturing, assembly, fastening and bonding, integration, inspection, and test.
Experience designing production tooling, including composite layup tools, trim and drill fixtures, bond fixtures, and assembly jigs.
Experience designing ground support equipment and shipping or handling solutions.
Experience with Siemens NX, and working knowledge of SolidWorks.
Strong command of GD&T and ASME Y14.5, and a working understanding of model-based definition and its application to Y14.5.
Configuration management experience in a PLM system at the level of a design engineering lead, including releases, revisions, and engineering change.
A track record of taking new products from early design into production.
Clear communicator who can work across design and manufacturing teams and hold their own in a design review.

Nice To Haves

Experience with unmanned aircraft or small airframe programs.
Experience designing tooling or processes for production at multiple sites, or for deployable or expeditionary manufacturing.
Experience using additive manufacturing for tooling and fixtures.
Tolerance stack-up analysis experience.
Familiarity with APQP, PFMEA, and process documentation in an AS9100 environment.
Startup or high-growth company experience.

Responsibilities

Serve on the aircraft design team from program inception, contributing design work on structures, parts, and assemblies.
Drive DFM/DFA by reviewing designs early and often, incorporating manufacturing constraints and cost drivers into trade studies, and advocating for simpler parts and assemblies.
Create and release models and drawings in NX, and SolidWorks where needed, applying GD&T per ASME Y14.5 and model-based definition practices.
Manage releases, revisions, and engineering changes in the PLM system, ensuring design, tooling, and process data are aligned.
Define the manufacturing approach for new products across composites, metallics, assembly, fastening, bonding, integration, inspection, and test, developing process roadmaps and documentation through design review gates.
Design composite layup tools, trim and drill fixtures, bond fixtures, assembly jigs, and inspection and test fixtures for duplication across all Firestorm production sites.
Design ground support equipment and shipping, handling, and logistics solutions for production, test, and fielded systems.
Support tool procurement, supplier technical questions, tool proofing, and commissioning in partnership with the manufacturing team.
Hand off process roadmaps to the Manufacturing Engineering team for full production documentation development and support early builds as the product moves into manufacturing operations.
Work with design, manufacturing, quality, and supply chain to resolve producibility issues, support root cause investigations, and feed lessons learned back into the design.
Perform other duties as needed.

Benefits

Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans
Equity grants for new hires
401(k) Retirement Savings Plan
Unlimited PTO
Extremely generous company holiday calendar, including a holiday hiatus in July & December.
Generous parental leave
Lifestyle Spending Account
FSA
DCFSA
HSA
Hospital Indemnity insurance
Critical Illness insurance
Accident insurance
Basic Life/AD&D, short-term and long-term disability insurance, 100% covered by Firestorm.
Option to purchase additional life insurance for you and your family.
Mental Health Resources: Free mental health resources 24/7 including therapy and more.
Additional work-life services, such as free legal and financial support.