Senior Tooling Engineer: Space Hardware & Automation

Northwood Space; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Comprehensive medical coverage

Vision and dental coverage

Retirement savings plan

Job summary

Northwood Space in Torrance, CA is seeking a Senior Tooling Engineer to design, build, commission, and improve the tools and equipment that enable us to manufacture, assemble, test, deploy, and scale our ground systems.

This highly cross-functional role involves collaboration with mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, test, site operations, supply chain, and deployment teams to create tooling that enhances quality, speed, safety, and repeatability across production and field operations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, mechatronics, robotics, electrical engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5+ years of experience designing, building, or supporting tooling, fixtures, production equipment, manufacturing systems, or automation equipment.
• Strong mechanical design fundamentals, including structures, mechanisms, tolerances, material selection, manufacturability, and maintainability.
• Experience with CAD and drawing release workflows.
• Hands-on experience building, assembling, debugging, and improving hardware in a shop, lab, production, or field environment.

Responsibilities

• Own the design and delivery of production tooling from initial concept through deployment on the shop floor or in the field.
• Partner with engineers, technicians, and operators to understand the underlying process, not just the requested tool, and develop solutions that improve quality, speed, safety, and repeatability.
• Build quick prototypes when speed matters, then mature the design into robust, documented, maintainable equipment.
• Bring up automated and semi-automated production equipment, including sensor integration, actuator selection, control panels, PLC logic, HMIs, and machine safety features.
• Troubleshoot tooling and equipment issues in real time, including mechanical failures, control logic problems, operator usability issues, tolerance stackups, and process variation.
• Create CAD models, detailed drawings, BOMs, work instructions, commissioning plans, and maintenance documentation.
• Work with internal teams and external vendors to fabricate, source, assemble, test, and improve custom tooling and production equipment.
• Drive continuous improvement across manufacturing and deployment processes by reducing cycle time, improving ergonomics, simplifying operations, and increasing first-pass success.
• Establish practical tooling standards and best practices as Northwood scales from low-rate builds to repeatable production and deployment.

Skills

Tooling design

Hands-on hardware

Cross-functional collaboration

Problem solving

Automation concepts

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Tools

CAD

PLC programming

HMI development

Job description

Northwood Space in Torrance, CA is seeking a Senior Tooling Engineer to design, build, commission, and improve the tools and equipment that enable us to manufacture, assemble, test, deploy, and scale our ground systems.

This highly cross-functional role involves collaboration with mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, test, site operations, supply chain, and deployment teams to create tooling that enhances quality, speed, safety, and repeatability across production and field operations.