Space Solar Manufacturing Engineer | High-Rate Production

Starpath; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental plan

Vision plan

Retirement plan

Paid time off

Training & development

Impactful work

Job summary

Starpath is seeking a Manufacturing Engineer for the Space Solar initiative in the Starlight Solar team. You will own manufacturing processes, tooling, and inspection techniques to enable high-rate production of space solar hardware with uncompromising quality.

You will collaborate with design engineers to drive DFMs, stand up in-process inspections (including automation), and lead the transition of hardware from development to production, while reducing complexity and overhead.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or advanced degree in aerospace, manufacturing, materials, mechanical engineering, or related field
• ≥1 year manufacturing and process design experience (internships/academic count)
• Master's degree preferred for advanced roles
• Hands-on experience with high-rate manufacturing and yield optimization
• Proficiency in mechanical assembly methods, testing, FMEA, and troubleshooting
• Experience with weld processes and weld inspection, including automation
• Exposure to aerospace/high‑reliability hardware environments

Responsibilities

• Develop and perform acceptance testing of manufacturing processes, techniques, and tools.
• Design and implement precision tooling to reduce errors and cycle times.
• Automate processes to ensure repeatability on high-rate lines.
• Collaborate with design engineering to apply DFM improvements.
• Establish in-process inspection methods to improve first-pass yield.
• Lead handoff of hardware from development to production.
• Simplify specs and streamline workflows to cut overhead wherever possible

Skills

Process design

Manufacturing

Automation

Design for manufacturing (DFM)

Quality improvement

Data analysis (SQL)

Cross-team collaboration

Education

Bachelor's or advanced degree in aerospace/manufacturing/materials/mechanical engineering

Master's degree in engineering

Tools

SQL

Job description

Starpath is seeking a Manufacturing Engineer for the Space Solar initiative in the Starlight Solar team. You will own manufacturing processes, tooling, and inspection techniques to enable high-rate production of space solar hardware with uncompromising quality.

You will collaborate with design engineers to drive DFMs, stand up in-process inspections (including automation), and lead the transition of hardware from development to production, while reducing complexity and overhead.