Manufacturing Engineering / Production Lead

Arxlight; Oakland (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Arxlight is seeking a Senior Manufacturing Engineer in Oakland, California, to bridge the gap between design and production for advanced drone products. The ideal candidate will manage production technicians, support product transitions, and ensure product line performance. Required qualifications include a degree in a technical field and 5+ years in manufacturing. This role demands strong attention to detail and a proactive attitude towards hardware manufacturing. Join a pioneering team and foster innovation within the manufacturing engineering product group.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in manufacturing or a similar position.
• Genuine interest in manufacturing and eagerness to learn.
• Experience in physically manufacturing hardware by various means.

Responsibilities

• Manage production technicians in the assembly and testing of drone products.
• Support product transition from concept to full production.
• Provide daily sustaining support for product line performance.
• Work with design engineers to drive design for manufacturing best practices.
• Document manufacturing processes and requirements.
• Collaborate on capacity planning actions.
• Analyze metrics for continuous improvement initiatives.
• Travel to suppliers to solve ongoing production issues.

Skills

World-class mission assurance

Attention to detail

Creativity in resource-constrained environments

Experience with hardware manufacturing

Education

Degree in engineering, math, or a hard science

Tools

Solidworks

Job description

Arxlight's operations team is seeking a highly motivated and experienced Senior Manufacturing Engineer to join our rapidly growing team. In this pivotal role, you will be responsible for bridging the gap between cutting‑edge design and efficient, high‑volume production for our advanced products.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Manage production technicians in the assembly and test of our drone products.
• Support the transition of products from concept to prototype, pilot, and full production with speed, flexibility, scalability, and first‑time quality.
• Provide daily sustaining support to ensure each product line performs as intended, including real‑time problem‑solving related to mechanical fitment issues, electrical and harnessing issues, as well as software and firmware issues.
• Work with design engineers during the development process to drive design for manufacturing best practices into the design effort, and help facilitate the transition from design to prototype to rate production.
• Own documentation required for successfully manufacturing products at scale such as MBOM’s, work instructions, process flows, floor plans, time studies, capacity analysis, etc.
• Collaborate with internal customers and manufacturing planning teams to define capacity planning actions to meet customer needs and expectations.
• Work hand in hand with the broader production team to solve complex issues to ensure customer demand is met.
• Analyze metrics for continuous improvement initiatives (cost reduction, QI reduction & capacity increase).
• Instill a culture of innovation, teamwork, and accountability within the manufacturing engineering product team.
• Travel to suppliers and partner sites to do initial sourcing work, solve ongoing production issues, and implement process procedures as required.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Degree in a technical field such as engineering, math, or a hard science
• 5+ years in manufacturing or similar position
• An attitude of world‑class mission assurance, quality, attention to detail, and dedication
• A genuine interest in manufacturing and thirst for learning
• Demonstrated ability to creatively deliver hardware in a resource‑constrained environment
• Personal experience physically manufacturing hardware via any means (machining, fabrication, soldering, assembly, etc.). Work on personal or extracurricular projects is a plus

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience building successful production operations from scratch, often working with very little definition
• Ownership of a complex bill of materials for an electromechanical product
• Knowledge of manufacturing processes including sheet metal, machining, and 3D printing
• Experience in Solidworks