Sr. Manufacturing Engineer - Cedar Park, TX
About the Role
We are seeking a Senior Manufacturing Engineer to serve as a senior technical authority within the Industrialization team at one of our clients. This role will own the design and development of assembly processes, production lines, cells, fixtures, tooling, and material flow systems that transform prototype and development builds into repeatable, scalable production operations.
You will work closely with Manufacturing Engineering, Design Engineering, Production, Quality, Supply Chain, and other cross-functional teams to develop and optimize complex assembly processes. This is a highly hands-on role for an engineer who enjoys solving challenging technical problems, working directly on the production floor, and taking ownership from initial concept through qualified production implementation.
The ideal candidate brings deep experience in assembly process and equipment design, fixture/tooling development, GD&T, lean manufacturing, and productionization, ideally within aerospace, automotive, energy, or other precision manufacturing environments.
What You'll Do
- Design assembly lines, cells, and workstations, including layouts, work sequencing, takt-based line balancing, station design, and capacity planning.
- Own fixture, jig, and tooling design from concept through fabrication, qualification, and production implementation.
- Apply GD&T, datum and locating strategies, tolerance stack-up analysis, error-proofing, and gage R&R to fixture and process development.
- Design material presentation and handling systems, including kitting, carts, racks, kanban/pull systems, line-side stocking, and WIP controls.
- Identify and eliminate manufacturing waste, reducing cycle time, labor content, motion, waiting, rework, transport, and excess inventory.
- Partner with Design Engineering to transition prototype and low-volume builds into repeatable, production-scale processes.
- Support process development for complex electromechanical assemblies, including engine, generator, electric machine, and precision assembly operations.
- Develop and maintain PFMEAs, control plans, work instructions, travelers, routings, and manufacturing BOMs.
- Specify, justify, procure, install, and qualify capital equipment, automation, semi-automated assembly aids, and material handling equipment.
- Lead root cause analysis and corrective actions using tools such as 5-Why, 8D, DOE, and statistical methods.
- Manage cross-functional industrialization projects, including schedules, budgets, technical milestones, and escalation of project risks.
- Incorporate safe and ergonomic workstation, tooling, and material-handling designs into production processes.
- Mentor manufacturing engineers and technicians and provide technical leadership during design reviews and production-readiness activities.
- Support process transfers between company engineering and production sites, including TX and, OH.
- Help establish and continuously improve manufacturing standards, processes, and engineering practices.
What We're Looking For
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, or a related field.
- 10+ years of manufacturing engineering experience with significant experience in complex assembly environments.
- Demonstrated ownership of assembly line and cell design from concept through installed and qualified production use.
- Strong hands-on experience designing, building, qualifying, and improving fixtures, jigs, and manufacturing tooling.
- Proven experience taking prototype or low-volume products into repeatable production processes.
- Expert-level understanding of assembly process and equipment design, including line balancing, workstation design, tooling, error-proofing, and process qualification.
- Strong proficiency with 3D CAD. Siemens NX is strongly preferred; candidates with SolidWorks, CATIA, Creo, Inventor, or equivalent experience will also be considered.
- Fluency in GD&T and tolerance stack-up analysis, with the ability to interpret and challenge engineering drawings, BOMs, ECOs, and specifications.
- Experience with material flow, point-of-use presentation, kitting, kanban/pull systems, line-side stocking, and WIP management.
- Practical experience applying Lean/Six Sigma, including standard work, time studies, work measurement, changeover reduction, and labor-content analysis.
- Experience with DOE, gage R&R, capability studies, and formal process qualification such as IQ/OQ/PQ or equivalent.
- Experience implementing automation or semi-automated assembly equipment.
- Experience with MES and ERP routing/BOM structures; PLM experience such as Teamcenter is a plus.
- Ability to mentor engineers and technicians and influence cross-functional teams without direct authority.
- Comfortable working in a pre-commercial/scaling environment where processes are being built and optimized from the ground up.
Preferred Experience
- Aerospace or other precision manufacturing experience.
- Engine, generator, electric motor, electric machine, or electromechanical assembly experience.
- Experience with additive manufacturing/3D printing.
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt.
- Familiarity with ISO 9001, AS9100, NADCAP, QS9000, or comparable manufacturing quality standards.
- Experience with custom fabrication and complex precision assemblies.
- Experience supporting new product introduction and industrialization.
Why This Role Matters
This is an opportunity to play a key role in building the manufacturing systems that will take an innovative technology from prototype to scalable commercial production. You'll have significant ownership over how products are assembled, how manufacturing processes are designed, and how the organization improves throughput, quality, efficiency, and scalability.
This role operates across office, engineering lab, warehouse, and production environments. The position requires the ability to stand and walk for extended periods, access equipment in confined or elevated areas, and occasionally lift or move materials up to 40 pounds.
Travel of up to 30% to company engineering and production sites is expected, with temporary extended on-site support during new process development as needed.
Multiple openings may be available, so we encourage qualified candidates to apply even if the position has already been posted for some time.