Principal Manufacturing DfX Architect

Ironstead; Denver, Northern (CO, KY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Ironstead is seeking a Member of Technical Staff, Principal Manufacturing to serve as a senior technical authority for Design for X across our manufacturing platform. Review complex customer designs, identify manufacturing risk early, and work with customers, design engineers, suppliers, machinists, and quality teams to turn product intent into a robust production strategy.

The role spans process selection, assembly, inspection, supply chain, tooling, automation, quality, cost, and scalability,

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, manufacturing, aerospace, industrial engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Experience designing, manufacturing, or industrializing complex mechanical products.
• Strong knowledge of GD&T, tolerance analysis, materials, surface finishes, inspection, and process capability.
• Experience taking products from design review through first article and stable production.
• Strong shop floor problem solving skills balancing performance, manufacturing risk, quality, cost, lead time, and scalability.
• Willingness to travel extensively (60-80%) and embed on-site at Ironstead portfolio facilities for extended periods, including some nights/weekends during critical transition windows

Responsibilities

• Architect a unified portfolio wide view of manufacturing capabilities and constraints to drive scalable industrialization.
• Translate complex product designs into robust manufacturing strategies, defining process sequences, capital equipment specs, advanced workholding, inspection plans, and production readiness roadmaps.
• Drive strategic sourcing and capital allocation decisions, evaluating internal capacity, portfolio network leverage, supplier development, automation opportunities, and CapEx investments.
• Lead root cause resolution for critical production failures involving process capability, tolerance accumulation, assembly, tooling, material behavior, and flow bottlenecks.
• Spearhead digital manufacturing workflows within IronsteadOS, integrating automated design reviews, algorithmic quoting, and software enabled process planning across the network.

Skills

DfX Principles

Process Optimization

Shop Floor Problem Solving

Cross-functional Collaboration

Willingness to Travel

Education

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, manufacturing, aerospace, industrial engineering, or a related technical discipline

Tools

CAD

CAM

PLM

MES

ERP

QMS

Quoting Systems

Job description

Ironstead is seeking a Member of Technical Staff, Principal Manufacturing to serve as a senior technical authority for Design for X across our manufacturing platform. Review complex customer designs, identify manufacturing risk early, and work with customers, design engineers, suppliers, machinists, and quality teams to turn product intent into a robust production strategy.

The role spans process selection, assembly, inspection, supply chain, tooling, automation, quality, cost, and scalability,