Senior Tooling Designer

DAHER•Sandpoint, ID

9d•$80,000 - $100,000•Onsite

About The Position

Kodiak Aircraft is seeking a highly capable Senior Tooling Designer to create practical, reliable tooling solutions that support stable, repeatable, and efficient aircraft production. This role connects Tooling, Manufacturing Engineering, Production, Quality, Supply Chain, and suppliers. You will design fixtures, jigs, assembly aids, and tooling solutions that reflect real shop-floor needs and improve how aircraft are built. This is more than a CAD design role. It is an opportunity to use hands-on manufacturing insight, production data, and strong tooling judgment to improve ergonomics, repeatability, flow, and quality in a low-rate aerospace production environment. The right tooling can reduce rework, improve ergonomics, increase repeatability, and help mechanics build aircraft more efficiently and consistently.

Requirements

7-10+ years of experience in tooling design and fabrication within aerospace or complex manufacturing.
Strong hands-on background in fabrication such as machining, welding, sheet metal, assembly tooling, or related processes.
Deep understanding of fixture design, locator strategies, tolerance stack-up, repeatability, and assembly constraints.
Proficiency in CAD; NX strongly preferred, with CATIA, SolidWorks, or equivalent platforms considered.
Competence applying GD&T per ASME Y14.5 and familiarity with gaging and fixturing principles.
Proven ability to design tooling that works on the floor and measurably improves production efficiency, ergonomics, and quality.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field
Experience in low-rate high-mix production
Supplier-built tooling validation
Lean or continuous improvement
Knowledge of tooling-related safety standards

Responsibilities

Work directly with mechanics, Manufacturing Engineers, and the Tooling Lead to understand real build constraints and high-impact tooling needs.
Design tooling, fixtures, jigs, and assembly aids for structures, subassemblies, machining, fabrication, final assembly, and installation.
Create detailed tool drawings that support manufacturing, assembly, maintenance, repair, and supplier fabrication.
Ensure tooling designs are practical, robust, repeatable, ergonomic, maintainable, and realistic to fabricate with available resources.
Use production data such as rework, cycle time, bottlenecks, and labor impact to support tooling prioritization recommendations.
Validate tooling performance in production and improve or redesign tooling that does not add value.