Lead Space Manufacturing Engineer

Rocket Lab Corporation; Silver Spring (MD); On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company equity

Medical coverage

Dental vision

401(k) match

Paid vacation

Sick leave

HSA coverage

Free meals

Snacks & drinks

Stock purchase plan

Job summary

Rocket Lab in Silver Spring, Maryland seeks a Lead, Manufacturing Engineer to drive the design and optimization of spaceflight production lines. You will lead a team, apply DFMEA/PFMEA, and partner with Product Development to ensure manufacturability at scale.

You will own production-line setup, troubleshooting, and continuous improvements, enabling faster, smarter build processes for spaceflight mechanisms. This role requires strong leadership and hands-on manufacturing expertise.

Qualifications

• B.S. in Engineering
• 5+ years of experience in Manufacturing, Production, or Process Engineering
• Experience designing, implementing and supporting production lines
• Track record leading teams to achieve technical and operational goals
• Familiarity with aerospace mechanical fabrication techniques, materials and finishes
• Experience with DFMEA, PFMEA, Fault Tree Analysis, Pareto, root cause & corrective actions

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a team of Manufacturing Engineers, providing mentorship and performance management.
• Conduct feasibility studies and RD projects to evaluate and implement advanced manufacturing technologies.
• Partner with Product Development to apply Design for Manufacturing principles to separation systems for scalable manufacturability.
• Design, procure, install, and validate production lines and factory systems for assembly, testing and verification of spaceflight mechanisms.
• Triage and diagnose production issues, perform root cause analyses, and implement corrective actions to improve reliability.
• Drive continuous improvements across manufacturing and test.
• Support change management and business-system improvements to boost efficiency.
• Assist with organizational efficiencies through system enhancements.

Skills

Leadership

Problem solving

DFMEA/PFMEA

Production line design

Cross-functional collaboration

Process optimization

Education

B.S. in Engineering

Job description

Rocket Lab in Silver Spring, Maryland seeks a Lead, Manufacturing Engineer to drive the design and optimization of spaceflight production lines. You will lead a team, apply DFMEA/PFMEA, and partner with Product Development to ensure manufacturability at scale.

You will own production-line setup, troubleshooting, and continuous improvements, enabling faster, smarter build processes for spaceflight mechanisms. This role requires strong leadership and hands-on manufacturing expertise.