Lead Manufacturing Engineer

Wanna join the adventure?

Loft Orbital is looking for a Manufacturing Engineering Lead to help scale the way we build spacecraft. This is a hands-on, player-coach role combining technical leadership with direct Manufacturing Engineering execution. You’ll spend approximately half of your time providing technical direction, prioritizing work, and mentoring Manufacturing Engineers, while remaining deeply involved in the day-to-day engineering required to build, troubleshoot, and improve our spacecraft production processes.

You’ll work directly on the production floor and partner closely with AIT, Design Engineering, Production Planning, Supply Chain, and Quality to translate spacecraft designs into robust, repeatable manufacturing processes. From developing work instructions and tooling to resolving production issues and improving manufacturability, you’ll personally own engineering work while helping the broader team operate effectively and scale.

What Success Looks Like:

You’ll be successful in this role by being equally comfortable leading the team and doing the work yourself. You’ll help Manufacturing Engineers prioritize and solve difficult problems while personally developing processes, supporting technicians, troubleshooting production issues, and driving spacecraft builds forward. Over time, your work will help turn spacecraft designs into increasingly repeatable, scalable, and production-ready manufacturing processes, enabling Loft to increase production capacity without compromising the quality and reliability required for flight hardware.

Act as a hands-on Manufacturing Engineer, directly supporting spacecraft assembly, integration, and production alongside the Manufacturing Engineering team.

Develop and maintain manufacturing process plans, detailed work instructions, routings, BOMs, and other production documentation required to execute spacecraft builds.

Provide hands-on engineering support on the production floor, working directly with technicians to troubleshoot assembly and integration issues and remove production blockers.

Develop and validate manufacturing processes, tooling, fixtures, equipment, and production layouts required for spacecraft assembly and integration.

Lead root cause investigations for manufacturing and production issues and implement effective corrective and preventive actions.

Review engineering designs and documentation for manufacturability, providing actionable Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) feedback to Design Engineering.

Manage and maintain EBOM/MBOM/PBOM alignment, routings, work orders, and manufacturing documentation within ERP/MRP/MES environments.

Identify and execute continuous improvement initiatives that improve quality, throughput, repeatability, ergonomics, and production efficiency.

Lead Manufacturing Engineering activities across spacecraft builds, helping prioritize work and providing technical direction while remaining accountable for your own engineering deliverables.

Mentor and support Manufacturing Engineers, helping develop their technical capabilities and establishing consistent Manufacturing Engineering practices across the team.

Serve as a technical liaison between Engineering and Operations, ensuring engineering intent is translated into clear, controlled, and executable processes on the production floor.

Identify and implement new manufacturing technologies, equipment, tooling, and automation that enable Loft to scale spacecraft production.

8+ years of professional experience in Manufacturing Engineering, Production Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related discipline within aerospace, spacecraft, or another complex high-reliability hardware environment.

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or a related technical discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.

Demonstrated experience providing technical leadership or mentorship while remaining a hands-on individual contributor within a manufacturing or production environment.

Strong hands-on understanding of complex hardware manufacturing and assembly processes, including electronics assembly, hand soldering, harness fabrication, mechanical assembly, bonding/polymerics, and/or precision hardware integration.

Ability to read, interpret, and provide feedback on engineering documentation including mechanical drawings, GD&T, electrical schematics, CAD models, wire lists, BOMs, and engineering specifications.

Experience personally developing and maintaining manufacturing process plans, assembly instructions, routings, BOMs, and production documentation under configuration control.

Experience working within ERP/MRP/MES systems and understanding the relationship between EBOMs, MBOMs/PBOMs, routings, work orders, inventory, and production execution.

Demonstrated experience solving complex production problems through structured root cause analysis and corrective action.

Strong understanding of lean manufacturing and continuous improvement principles, with demonstrated experience improving manufacturing quality, efficiency, or throughput.

Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills with the ability to work effectively across Engineering, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, and Production teams.

Willingness and ability to work on-site in Golden, Colorado, including significant hands-on support directly on the production floor.

Previous experience manufacturing, assembling, integrating, or testing spacecraft or other spaceflight hardware.

Previous hands-on experience as an aerospace or spacecraft technician.

Experience with aerospace manufacturing and workmanship standards such as AS9100, IPC-A-610, IPC/WHMA-A-620, J-STD-001, NASA standards, and/or ECSS.

Current or previous IPC workmanship certifications.

Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt certification.

Experience designing manufacturing tooling, fixtures, production layouts, or assembly aids.

Experience scaling manufacturing operations from low-volume development builds toward higher-rate production.

Experience implementing or improving ERP, MRP, or MES systems and manufacturing data structures.

Experience with manufacturing automation, data analysis, or scripting tools such as Python.

100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance option for employees and dependents

Flexible Spending (FSA) and Health Savings (HSA) Accounts offered with an employer contribution to the HSA

100% employer paid Life, AD&D, Short-Term, and Long-Term Disability insurance

Flexible Time Off policy for vacation and sick leave, and 12 paid holidays

401(k) plan and equity options

Daily catered lunches and snacks

International exposure to our team in France

Fully paid parental leave; 14 weeks for primary caregiver and 10 weeks for secondary caregiver

Carrot Fertility provides comprehensive, inclusive fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits with financial support

Off-sites and many social events and celebrations

Relocation assistance when applicable

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