Principal Production Systems Architect

Portal Space Systems•Bothell, WA

10d•$165,000 - $230,000•Onsite

About The Position

Portal Space Systems is hiring a Principal Production Systems Architect to own the vision and implementation of a production system architecture that combines startup flexibility and agility with the configuration control and design rigor of a mature aerospace OEM. The role focuses on ensuring nimble, efficient, and reliable interactions among PLM, ERP, and MES systems. It is a hands-on system development position involving close collaboration with enterprise IT, design teams, manufacturing, integration, test, systems engineering, and suppliers. The architect will make engineering decisions and own the interactions of production control systems with design tools, technician interfaces, and manufacturing resource planning. The role also serves as Portal’s foremost expert on GD&T under ASME Y14.5-2009, including maintaining engineering compliance and best practices and mentoring others. The position is based at Portal’s headquarters in Bothell, Washington.

Requirements

Seven or more years of professional experience defining aerospace production systems, including MES implementation, manufacturing system design standards, and production process requirements.
Demonstrated expert experience with aerospace manufacturing processes.
Strong CAD, PLM, and MES experience defining new and mature production system artifacts and interactions.
Experience with manufacturing process fundamentals and adjacent design and analysis principles as they relate to manufacturing requirements.

Nice To Haves

Direct experience defining and executing production system tools and practices.
Experience owning and maintaining CAPEX and OPEX budgets and resource forecasts.
Understanding of financial reporting and SOX compliance requirements for manufacturing cost tracking and the transition from development to production.
Experience defining spacecraft physical architecture and integrating propulsion, avionics, mechanisms, thermal hardware, payloads, harnessing, and other subsystems within a constrained vehicle envelope.
High proficiency with CAD and PLM software; Siemens NX and Teamcenter experience is strongly preferred, especially with complex interfaces to production system elements and tooling.
Experience integrating Teamcenter with ERP and owning MBOM development and reconciliation with an EBOM.
Experience with QMS systems accredited through AS9100 and other defense manufacturing regulations, including material traceability and first article inspection.
Knowledge of spacecraft hardware design techniques, requirements, and validation principles.
Knowledge of spacecraft material properties and specific processing requirements.
Experience with CNC machines, robotics, and other production system automation.

Responsibilities

Build the vision for the production system architecture that will guide how other teams interact with and support the production system.
Author command documentation for design standards, standard operating procedures, and process definitions.
Define requirements for MBOM structure and composition, including reconciliation with the EBOM.
Ensure system support for financial reporting tools, clear audit trails, and SOX compliance.
Define how manufacturing engineering will interact with the PLM system and establish production configuration control.
Create manufacturing artifacts that serve as a single source of truth for process and production requirements related to spacecraft hardware design.
Own the definition and application of DFx principles so hardware designs meet performance targets and are producible.
Define best practices for manufacturing engineering use of CAD software to facilitate development of production system hardware and processes.
Ensure manufacturing data passes simply between subsystems so engineers and technicians do not manually re-enter data already contextualized in the system.
Ensure automation connectors maintain consistent contextualization with order numbers, batch numbers, serial numbers, and other identifiers.
Define integration of GSE design elements with MES structure so tools used to build products are linked to the build definition.
Develop and mentor early-career engineers in production system excellence.
Ensure engineering compliance with ASME Y14.5-2009 GD&T standards and develop, maintain, and teach related best practices.