Principal Manufacturing Engineer

AIRO Group Holdings, Inc. • Montreal, QC

24d • CA$130,000 - CA$150,000 • Onsite

About The Position

As a Level 4 Principal Manufacturing Engineer, you will transition from traditional process engineering to fully owning the end-to-end manufacturing system for our prototype aircraft development program. In this advanced role, you will be responsible for manufacturing engineering, supplier transition, specialized tooling development, production planning, and first article assembly, while leading the manufacturing team on the floor. You must be equally comfortable troubleshooting complex assembly challenges alongside technicians, optimizing build layouts within the CAD environment, and auditing technical capabilities at a supplier's production facility.

Requirements

• Direct leadership history managing manufacturing engineering pipelines, prototype aircraft assembly lines, or advanced aerospace product development programs.
• Comprehensive background in aerospace structural assembly techniques, high-precision metal fabrication, rivet patterns, and structural bonding processes.
• Hands-on proficiency using enterprise 3D CAD modeling software (such as Dassault 3DEXPERIENCE or Catia V5) to design tooling or audit design-for-manufacturing compliance.
• Practical experience leading external supplier technical transitions, running production readiness reviews, and auditing source quality capabilities.
• Demonstrated history managing production planning workflows, bill of materials (BOM) matching, and material resource tracking structures.
• Exceptional collaborative habits with a proven capability to guide multidisciplinary floor technicians and engineering specialists through complex prototype build abnormalities.
• Ability to read, write, and understand French

Responsibilities

• Establish, scale, and own the overarching manufacturing system, sequence routers, and assembly layout strategies for the clean-sheet JC250 prototype aircraft.
• Lead and mentor the production floor manufacturing team, fostering a culture of technical rigor, safety, continuous improvement, and strict schedule accountability.
• Coordinate the supplier transition process, auditing external fabrication facilities, assessing technical readiness, and resolving manufacturing discrepancies at the source.
• Design, specify, and validate advanced assembly tooling, work-holding fixtures, and alignment jigs utilizing 3D CAD platforms to ensure repeatable prototype tolerances.
• Author and manage end-to-end production planning schedules, balancing material lead times, cycle sequences, and floor-space allocation to meet aircraft integration milestones.
• Direct the first article assembly and inspection protocols for primary structures and complex sub-systems, capturing design-for-manufacturing (DFM) feedback loop modifications.
• Bridge technical communication boundaries by collaborating directly with design engineering, systems engineering, quality, and program management teams to optimize the vehicle configuration baseline.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior