Senior Manufacturing Engineer

Strativ Group; Newport Beach (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Strativ Group is supporting a high-growth aerospace and defence organisation in the search for an experienced Manufacturing Subject Matter Expert. This is a senior technical role focused on manufacturing strategy, industrialisation and the transition of complex products from development into scalable production.

The ideal candidate will lead manufacturing process and production system development, champion DFM/DFA, establish workflow standards, drive continuous improvement and ensure readiness

Qualifications

• 10+ years' manufacturing engineering experience.
• 5+ years' manufacturing/process engineering experience.
• Mechanical Engineering degree.
• Strong experience taking products from design through to production.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing quality control.
• Hands-on experience with incoming and outgoing inspection.
• Experience establishing change management and audit processes across manufacturers and suppliers.
• Strong knowledge of systems engineering and advanced manufacturing processes.
• Experience with lean manufacturing and continuous improvement.
• Strong root cause analysis and problem-solving skills.
• Experience working across engineering, operations and supply chain.
• Aerospace, defence, robotics or advanced hardware experience.
• Electrical engineering background.
• Experience with composites, precision machining or electronics manufacturing.
• Contract manufacturing and global supply chain experience.
• Production scaling, factory ramp-up or manufacturing automation experience.
• Knowledge of aerospace manufacturing standards and quality systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead manufacturing process and production system development
• Support the transition from engineering development into production
• Drive DFM/DFA across engineering and manufacturing teams
• Develop manufacturing workflows, tooling strategies and process standards
• Identify and mitigate manufacturing and production risks
• Support supplier selection, qualification and manufacturing partner oversight
• Lead continuous improvement, root cause analysis and corrective actions
• Establish manufacturing validation, inspection and quality processes
• Support production readiness, capacity planning and factory scale-up
• Develop manufacturing documentation, work instructions and standards

Skills

Manufacturing engineering experience

Process engineering

Lean manufacturing

Root cause analysis

Problem solving

Cross-functional collaboration

Supply chain collaboration

Aerospace/defence experience

Design to production

Quality control

Inspection (incoming/outgoing)

Change management

Audit processes

Systems engineering

Manufacturing automation

Production scaling

Aerospace manufacturing standards

Education

Mechanical Engineering degree

Electrical engineering background

Job description

Manufacturing Subject Matter Expert | Aerospace & Defence

Strativ Group is supporting a high-growth aerospace and defence organisation in the search for an experienced Manufacturing Subject Matter Expert.

This is a senior technical role focused on manufacturing strategy, industrialisation and the transition of complex products from development into scalable production.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead manufacturing process and production system development
• Support the transition from engineering development into production
• Drive DFM/DFA across engineering and manufacturing teams
• Develop manufacturing workflows, tooling strategies and process standards
• Identify and mitigate manufacturing and production risks
• Support supplier selection, qualification and manufacturing partner oversight
• Lead continuous improvement, root cause analysis and corrective actions
• Establish manufacturing validation, inspection and quality processes
• Support production readiness, capacity planning and factory scale-up
• Develop manufacturing documentation, work instructions and standards

What we're looking for:

• 10+ years' manufacturing engineering experience
• 5+ years' manufacturing/process engineering experience
• Mechanical Engineering degree
• Strong experience taking products from design through to production
• Strong understanding of manufacturing quality control
• Hands-on experience with incoming and outgoing inspection
• Experience establishing change management and audit processes across manufacturers and suppliers
• Strong knowledge of systems engineering and advanced manufacturing processes
• Experience with lean manufacturing and continuous improvement
• Strong root cause analysis and problem-solving skills
• Experience working across engineering, operations and supply chain
• Aerospace, defence, robotics or advanced hardware experience
• Electrical engineering background
• Experience with composites, precision machining or electronics manufacturing
• Contract manufacturing and global supply chain experience
• Production scaling, factory ramp-up or manufacturing automation experience
• Knowledge of aerospace manufacturing standards and quality systems

The ideal candidate:

A hands-on manufacturing leader who can bridge engineering design with real-world production requirements, solve complex manufacturing challenges and help build scalable production systems within a fast-growing organisation.