Production Architect for Spaceplane Scale-Up

Dawn Aerospace; Christchurch; On-site; NZD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Dawn Aerospace in New Zealand seeks an accomplished industrialization leader to define the manufacturing vision for our spaceplane program. You will shape production systems, standards, and readiness criteria to scale from prototypes to multiple spaceplanes per year.

Reporting across engineering, manufacturing, and leadership, you will drive Lean, DFMA-friendly design, and data-driven improvements, ensuring quality, delivery, and regulatory compliance while expanding production capacity.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or equivalent.
• 5+ years transitioning complex engineering organisations from R&D to production.
• Experience scaling manufacturing from prototypes to repeatable production.
• Strong knowledge of Lean Manufacturing and DFMA in highly regulated environments.

Responsibilities

• Develop the long-term production strategy to manufacture multiple spaceplanes each year.
• Define the production operating model transitioning from R&D to production.
• Design and implement scalable manufacturing processes.
• Collaborate with design engineers to improve manufacturability and efficiency.
• Identify bottlenecks and remove manufacturing constraints.
• Improve data collection to enable data-driven decisions.
• Establish production planning methodologies and scheduling processes.
• Work with Supply Chain to ensure readiness and supplier capability.
• Drive alignment from prototype thinking to production thinking.
• Build a culture of standardisation, repeatability and operational excellence.
• Define manufacturing documentation standards and work instructions.

Skills

Industrialization strategy

Production system design

Cross-functional leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering

Job description

Dawn Aerospace in New Zealand seeks an accomplished industrialization leader to define the manufacturing vision for our spaceplane program. You will shape production systems, standards, and readiness criteria to scale from prototypes to multiple spaceplanes per year.

Reporting across engineering, manufacturing, and leadership, you will drive Lean, DFMA-friendly design, and data-driven improvements, ensuring quality, delivery, and regulatory compliance while expanding production capacity.