Lead and grow manufacturing teams to support vehicle hardware builds (assembly, composites, welding, tubing, turbopumps, tanks). Drive manufacturability, KPIs, production targets, capability expansion, training, reliability, and collaborate with design, quality, and supply chain.
As a Manufacturing Director at Impulse, you will hire, manage, and mentor manufacturing engineers, technicians, and leaders to support hardware builds for Impulse’s vehicles. You will support activities ranging from mechanical assembly, composites, mechanisms, welding, tubes, and/or vehicle integration. You will work directly with leaders and individual contributors in other disciplines. This is an opportunity to contribute to all aspects of vehicle development.
Responsibilities
- Grow team of engineers and technicians to support new programs, products and processes (e.g. components, thrust chambers, turbopumps, tanks, harnessing, tubing, welding, etc.)
- Mature existing programs for the business by developing KPI’s, developing training requirements, and driving hardware reliability initiatives
- Collaborate with design engineers and quality teams to ensure manufacturability, DFM compliance, and long-term reliability
- Set daily and weekly production targets, backed by performance metrics
- Establish and maintain high technical standards through specifications and training
- Drive the expansion of capabilities and capacity on the shop floor
- Work hand in hand with supply chain to determine make vs. buy decisions and drive new capabilities internally or offload commodities to external vendors
- Mentor and develop levels of leadership across the organization (leads, supervisors, managers) to establish lines of defense, and succession plans for the business
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelors' degree in mechanical, aerospace engineering or related field
- 10+ years' of demonstrated hands-on manufacturing
- 5+ years' of leading high-performing teams
- Demonstrated ability to thrive within an ambiguous environment
- Demonstrated ability to work with cross-functional departments
Preferred Skills and Experience
- 12+ years' of hands-on engineering within an aerospace environment
- 8+ years' of hands-on manufacturing experience working on spacecraft, satellites, rockets or related hardware
- Demonstrated ability to hire, train & manage engineering teams
- Demonstrated experience with new product introduction
- Demonstrated experience with setting up new manufacturing processes from scratch
Additional Information:
Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.
Impulse Space’s spacecraft manufacturing business is subject to U.S. export regulations including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This position requires applicants to be either U.S. Persons (i.e., U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent U.S. resident (green card holder), an individual granted asylum in the U.S., or an individual admitted in U.S. refugee status) or persons eligible to obtain an export license from the U.S. Departments of State, Commerce, or other applicable U.S. government agencies. Learn more about the ITAR here.
Impulse Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Impulse Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
About
Impulse Space, the in-space transportation company founded by Tom Mueller, is opening access beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with its fleet of in-space transportation vehicles. The high-energy Helios vehicle unlocks orbits beyond LEO with its powerful Deneb engine, dropping off payloads in MEO, GEO, heliocentric, lunar, and other planetary orbits. The flight-proven Mira vehicle uses a nontoxic, high-impulse chemical propulsion system to offer orbital transport, constellation deployment, and precision reentry services to customers throughout LEO. Led by a team that delivered the most reliable rockets in history, Impulse provides economical and efficient in-space transportation by reliably and rapidly getting customers where they want to go.
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