Space Systems Manufacturing Lead: Innovate & Scale

Rocket Lab USA; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 125,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock purchase plan

EV charging

Onsite gym

Food and beverages

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Paid vacation

Job summary

Rocket Lab USA in Long Beach, CA is seeking a Lead Manufacturing Engineer for Space Systems to drive manufacturability improvements, lead factory setup and optimization, and support ramp of production lines. You will troubleshoot issues, partner with Design Engineering, and own end-to-end manufacturing processes for scalable production.

The role requires a Bachelor's degree in engineering plus 5+ years in manufacturing, strong problem-solving, leadership, and project-management skills.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Mechatronics, Computer Engineering, or similar.
• 5+ years of technical experience in a Manufacturing, Production, or Process Engineering environment.
• Hands-on experience solving systemic problems in complex manufacturing systems.
• Ability to deliver multiple complex assignments with autonomy.
• Ability to coach and mentor to raise performance across teams.
• Detailed technical knowledge in complex manufacturing processes.
• Personnel leadership experience.
• Capital and facilities justification, project management and implementation.
• Periodic reviews with direct employees.
• Interview and hire candidates for new roles.
• Create team goals and metrics to drive continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Prepare feasibility studies and conduct manufacturing technology R&D projects.
• Partner with Design Engineering to ensure manufacturability at scale.
• Engineer and deliver factories: design, procure, install, validate assembly, test and verification processes.
• Support development builds to uncover early learnings and accelerate ramp-up.
• Own production lines to remove blockers and improve yield and efficiency.
• Triage and diagnose failures; conduct investigations and determine corrective actions.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to resolve complex issues.
• Drive process improvements across manufacturing, test and integration.
• Contribute to change management and risk assessment of design/process changes.
• Support business system and process improvements to enhance organizational effectiveness.

Skills

Manufacturing experience

Root cause analysis

Multitasking

Coaching

Technical knowledge

Leadership

Project management

Performance reviews

Hiring

Team goals

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Mechatronics, Computer Engineering, or similar

Job description

Rocket Lab USA in Long Beach, CA is seeking a Lead Manufacturing Engineer for Space Systems to drive manufacturability improvements, lead factory setup and optimization, and support ramp of production lines. You will troubleshoot issues, partner with Design Engineering, and own end-to-end manufacturing processes for scalable production.

The role requires a Bachelor's degree in engineering plus 5+ years in manufacturing, strong problem-solving, leadership, and project-management skills.