Aerospace Tooling Engineer: Fast-Track Production

Anduril Industries; Ashville (AL); On-site; USD 126,000 - 167,000; Full time

Job summary

Anduril Industries in Ashville, OH, seeks a Tooling Engineer to join the Manufacturing Engineering team. You will design, develop, and maintain tooling, fixtures, and jigs to support large scale sub-assembly production of flight-critical hardware.

This role requires 5+ years in aerospace tooling, strong CAD skills (NX/SolidWorks/CATIA), GD&T expertise, and the ability to translate engineering requirements into practical tooling on the factory floor.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
• 5+ years of tooling design and development for aerospace or defense manufacturing — aircraft assembly tooling strongly preferred
• Proficiency in 3D CAD software (NX, SolidWorks, or CATIA) and 2D drafting for tooling drawings
• Strong understanding of GD&T principles and tolerance stack-up analysis as applied to assembly tooling and airframe structures
• Experience with metallic tooling materials (aluminum, steel, Invar) and an understanding of material selection trade-offs for fixture design
• Hands-on experience proving out tooling on a production floor and iterating designs based on build feedback
• Ability to read and interpret aircraft engineering drawings, specifications, and assembly procedures
• Familiarity with aerospace quality standards (AS9100, AWS D17.1) and configuration management practices
• Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance

Responsibilities

• Design and develop tooling, fixtures, jigs, drill guides, holding fixtures, and handling equipment for aircraft sub-assembly operations using 3D CAD (NX).
• Perform tolerance analysis and GD&T stack-ups to ensure tooling meets positional accuracy and interchangeability requirements for airframe structures
• Create detailed tooling drawings, specifications, and bills of material for internal fabrication or vendor procurement
• Support first article tooling prove-out on the production floor, iterating on designs based on technician feedback and build results
• Develop and maintain tooling maintenance schedules, calibration requirements, and inspection procedures to ensure tooling remains within tolerance throughout its service life
• Collaborate with manufacturing engineers to identify tooling needs driven by new product introductions, design changes, or process improvements
• Perform root cause analysis on tooling-related quality issues and implement corrective actions — including rework, redesign, or replacement of worn or underperforming tools
• Work with external tooling vendors to source, quote, and qualify outsourced tooling — including on-site acceptance testing and first article inspection
• Support Design for Manufacturability (DFM) reviews by providing tooling feasibility input and recommending design features that simplify fixturing and reduce assembly complexity
• Develop and document standard tooling design practices, reusable modular fixture concepts, and lessons learned to accelerate future tooling development cycles
• Support production rate ramp by identifying tooling bottlenecks and designing duplicate, multi-station, or quick-change tooling solutions to increase throughput
• Manage tooling inventory, tracking, and storage — ensuring tools are available, identifiable, and in serviceable condition when needed on the line

Skills

GD&T

3D CAD NX

Tooling design

Manufacturing engineering

Reading drawings

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

NX

SolidWorks

CATIA

Teamcenter

Windchill

Job description

Anduril Industries in Ashville, OH, seeks a Tooling Engineer to join the Manufacturing Engineering team. You will design, develop, and maintain tooling, fixtures, and jigs to support large scale sub-assembly production of flight-critical hardware.

This role requires 5+ years in aerospace tooling, strong CAD skills (NX/SolidWorks/CATIA), GD&T expertise, and the ability to translate engineering requirements into practical tooling on the factory floor.