Lead Avionics Manufacturing Engineer

northwoodspace; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Northwood Space, a modern space infrastructure company in Torrance, CA, seeks a Lead Avionics Manufacturing Engineer to head the manufacturing engineering team across SMT assembly, board acceptance testing, environmental screening, and final box build. You will set standards, drive continuous improvement, and partner with design to enhance manufacturability.

Ideal candidates bring 5+ years in electronics or avionics manufacturing, strong leadership, and a proven ability to develop robust process

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required in a technical field; 5+ years of electronics/avionics manufacturing experience; SMT process familiarity; PCBAs and electronics assembly experience; ability to lead across multiple manufacturing stages and drive corrective actions; develop documentation, work instructions and process controls; collaborate with design and production teams in a fast-paced hardware environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead the avionics manufacturing engineering team for SMT, post-SMT, board acceptance testing, environmental screening, and final box build.
• Develop and maintain manufacturing standards, processes, design guidelines, and best practices for avionics production.
• Own development, qualification, and continuous improvement of manufacturing processes across the avionics production flow.
• Establish process controls, acceptance criteria, workmanship standards, and manufacturing documentation.
• Lead equipment/tooling selection, qualification, and continuous improvement in avionics manufacturing.
• Partner with design engineering to improve manufacturability, testability, reliability, and production scalability.
• Drive new product introduction from prototypes into controlled production processes.
• Identify production risks and drive root cause and corrective actions.
• Define and track metrics like yield, defect rates, cycle time, and process capability.
• Develop validation/qualification strategies for new equipment, materials, and methods.
• Work with Quality Engineering on inspection, traceability, and nonconformance for aerospace hardware.
• Mentor manufacturing engineers and technicians to foster engineering ownership on the floor.

Education

Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, or a related technical field

Job description

Northwood is a modern space infrastructure company bringing the benefits of space to the masses through advanced communications technology. We are building a global network of phased array ground stations that enable real-time, reliable communication for satellite missions such as national security, global connectivity, and disaster response. With a vertically integrated approach, Northwood designs, builds, and rapidly deploys scalable systems that power the next generation of space missions. If you like solving complex challenges and seeing your work deployed around the world with real impact, Northwood is the place to do it.

Role Overview

Northwood Space is looking for a Lead Avionics Manufacturing Engineer to lead the manufacturing engineering team responsible for our avionics production processes. This role will own the manufacturing engineering strategy and execution from SMT assembly through board-level acceptance testing, environmental screening, and final box build.

Responsibilities

• Lead the manufacturing engineering team responsible for avionics production, including SMT, post-SMT processing, board acceptance testing, thermal cycling, and electromechanical box build.
• Develop and maintain Northwood's avionics manufacturing standards, processes, design guidelines, and best practices.
• Own the development, qualification, and continuous improvement of manufacturing processes across the avionics production flow.
• Establish process controls, acceptance criteria, workmanship standards, and manufacturing documentation required to consistently produce high-quality hardware.
• Lead the selection, implementation, qualification, and improvement of avionics manufacturing equipment and tooling.
• Partner with design engineering to improve manufacturability, testability, reliability, and production scalability of new avionics designs.
• Drive new product introduction from engineering prototypes into controlled production processes.
• Identify production risks and recurring manufacturing issues and drive them to root cause and corrective action.
• Define and track key manufacturing metrics such as yield, defect rates, rework, cycle time, and process capability.
• Develop process validation and qualification strategies for new equipment, materials, and manufacturing methods.
• Work with Quality Engineering to establish inspection, process control, traceability, and nonconformance practices appropriate for aerospace hardware.
• Mentor and develop manufacturing engineers and technicians while establishing strong engineering ownership on the production floor.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of experience in electronics or avionics manufacturing engineering.
• Basic understanding of SMT manufacturing processes, including stencil printing, pick-and-place, reflow, inspection, and process troubleshooting.
• Experience developing and improving manufacturing processes for PCBAs and electronic assemblies.
• Experience supporting products through multiple stages of manufacturing, from PCBA fabrication through integration into higher-level assemblies.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex manufacturing problems from initial investigation through implementation of corrective actions.
• Experience creating manufacturing documentation, process specifications, work instructions, and production controls.
• Ability to work directly with engineering and production teams in a fast-paced hardware development and manufacturing environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading manufacturing engineers or owning a significant electronics manufacturing area.
• Experience with aerospace, defense, automotive, medical device, or other high-reliability electronics manufacturing.
• Strong knowledge of IPC workmanship and electronics manufacturing standards.
• Experience with automated optical inspection, X-ray inspection, rework, cleaning, conformal coating, or other PCBA manufacturing processes.
• Experience developing board-level acceptance test processes and production test equipment.
• Experience with environmental screening processes such as thermal cycling.
• Experience with electromechanical assembly and avionics box build.
• Experience implementing manufacturing processes within an MES and developing production traceability systems.
• Experience with PFMEAs, control plans, statistical process control, process capability, and structured root-cause methodologies.
• Familiarity with AS9100