NPI Manufacturing Engineer — On‑Floor, Hands‑On

Firestorm; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 125,000 - 145,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision plans

401(k) retirement plan

Equity grants

Unlimited PTO

Generous holiday schedule

Parental leave

Lifestyle Spending Account

FSA/DCFSA/HSA

Job summary

Firestorm is building mission-adaptive UAV platforms and seeks a Senior Manufacturing Engineer to transition designs into scalable production. You will work closely with senior engineers and cross-functional teams to develop processes, tooling, and documentation, spending substantial time on the production floor.

You will ensure manufacturability, supports First Article inspections, and contributes to FMEA and control plans within the NPI team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor-level degree in Manufacturing, Mechanical, Industrial Engineering, or equivalent.
• U.S. Person status per ITAR: citizen or eligible resident.
• 3+ years in manufacturing or production engineering.
• Experience scaling prototype to first run production.
• Ability to read engineering drawings and GD&T.
• Experience with common manufacturing processes (machining, fabrication, assembly, composites).
• Experience with 2D/3D CAD software.
• Ability to create effective work instructions.
• Cross-functional collaboration with engineering, quality, and operations.

Responsibilities

• Analyze drawings/3D models for manufacturability and flag tolerances, materials, or process concerns.
• Create clear, visual work instructions with step-by-step procedures and acceptance criteria.
• Design assembly fixtures/jigs focusing on repeatability and error-proofing.
• Spend significant time on the production floor supporting setup, debugging, and hands-on problem solving.
• Support First Article Inspection activities per AS9102 and balloon drawings.
• Contribute to process FMEA and control plan development within the NPI team.
• Develop/test production acceptance and functional verification procedures.
• Collect and analyze manufacturing data (cycle time, yield, defects) for continuous improvement.
• Perform root cause analysis on nonconformances using structured problem solving.
• Maintain ITAR and CUI compliance across docs and data.

Skills

DFM/DFA analysis

CAD software

GD&T interpretation

Work instructions

Root cause analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Manufacturing processes

Production floor hands-on

Education

Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing/Mechanical/Industrial Engineering

Tools

3D CAD software

ERP/MRP/PLM systems

CMM/calipers/micrometers

Job description

Firestorm is building mission-adaptive UAV platforms and seeks a Senior Manufacturing Engineer to transition designs into scalable production. You will work closely with senior engineers and cross-functional teams to develop processes, tooling, and documentation, spending substantial time on the production floor.

You will ensure manufacturability, supports First Article inspections, and contributes to FMEA and control plans within the NPI team.