Design, validate, and deliver tooling (jigs, fixtures, molds, dies) for aerospace and missile-class components. Lead projects from concept to production, run tolerance stack-ups and FEA, improve tooling efficiency and quality, ensure AS9100/NADCAP compliance, mentor junior staff, and collaborate with design, supply chain, and production on manufacturability and troubleshooting.
Senior Tooling Engineer (Confidential Search)
Torrance, CA or Rio Rancho, NM | $140,000 to $230,000 base + equity
The OpportunityOur client is a fast-growing, well-backed defense manufacturing startup building advanced propulsion and weapon systems. They apply a commercial, high-speed approach to hardware: short iterative design cycles, early and frequent real-world testing, and modern manufacturing methods, in a domain that has historically moved slowly. The team is small, fast, and execution-focused.
They are hiring a Senior Tooling Engineer to own the tooling that makes their hardware manufacturable at rate.
The Problem You Would OwnYou will design and build tooling assemblies (jigs, fixtures, molds, dies, and assembly tooling) for aerospace and missile-class components. A key near-term challenge is scaling solid rocket motor propellant manufacturing: energetic material handled at production scale, in large batches with strict thermal and handling constraints. The tooling has to hit cost and throughput targets without compromising the safety and process requirements that energetic materials demand.
What You Would Do- Design complex tooling (jigs, fixtures, molds, dies, assembly tools) in CAD
- Run tolerance stack-up and FEA to validate designs
- Drive tooling efficiency and product-quality improvements
- Lead projects from concept through production, owning timelines, budgets, and resources
- Mentor junior engineers and technicians
- Ensure compliance with aerospace standards (AS9100, NADCAP) and apply design-for-manufacturability
- Partner with design, supply chain, and production on manufacturability and troubleshooting
- Bachelor's in Mechanical, Electrical, or Manufacturing Engineering, or a related field
- 5+ years of tooling design and development experience
- Preferred: new product introduction / pilot / production-transition experience, complex-build troubleshooting, and a regulated or defense manufacturing background
- Location: two sites available (Southern California or New Mexico); relocation supported; some inter-site travel
- Compensation: $140,000 to $230,000 base, plus long-term stock incentives, full medical, vision, and dental, and four weeks PTO
- Eligibility: ITAR applies. Must be a US citizen
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