Machinist

Job Description

Job Description

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Defense Subcontractor — CAGE 83N19

Light Composites, Inc.

13860 Stowe Drive  |  Poway, CA 92064

CAGE 83N19

AS9100 CERTIFIED

Job Description

Machine Shop Lead — Second Shift

Full-Time  |  Non-Exempt (Hourly)  |  Reports to Machine Shop Supervisor  |  Mon–Fri 2:30 PM – 11:00 PM

Second ShiftWorking LeadCNC MachiningHaas VMCAS9100Composite MFG

The #1 job of this lead is to keep machined parts moving through the CNC shop after first shift goes home. On second shift there is no supervisor, no engineer, and no manager in the building — this lead is the machine shop. They must be able to do everything the Machine Shop Supervisor can do at the machines: set up any job, prove it out, edit a program, troubleshoot a problem, and make the call on whether a part is good.

ⓘ

This is not a standard lead role. The day-shift Machine Shop Lead coordinates under a supervisor who handles technical escalations. On second shift there is no one in the building to escalate to — technical self-sufficiency is the defining requirement. The title says Lead because the people-management scope stays with the Supervisor; the technical bar is the Supervisor's.

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This is a working lead role. The majority of the shift is spent setting up and running CNC machines. The coordination, handoff, and shift-leadership responsibilities are layered on top of the machining work, not a replacement for it. If an operator is out, the lead runs that station. The schedule does not stop because it's dark outside.

Production Manager

Machine Shop Supervisor

Machine Shop Lead — Second Shift (this role)

Second-Shift CNC Operators

The Machine Shop Supervisor owns the department across both shifts — the master schedule, staffing, personnel decisions, and cross-department coordination. The Second Shift Lead executes the released plan after 2:30 PM with full authority to make technical decisions at the machines and re-sequence work within the shift when machines go down or jobs stall. People issues, pay, and discipline route to the Supervisor.

This role carries the full technical authority of the Machine Shop Supervisor — anything the Supervisor is qualified to do at a machine, this lead must be able to do without help, because after 2:30 PM there is no help. What it does not carry is the Supervisor's management scope: hiring, discipline, pay, and cross-department priority calls stay with the Supervisor.

Full technical authority — set up, prove out, edit programs, and buy off first pieces on any machine in the shop

Stop production when a quality or safety concern requires it — same authority as the Supervisor

Re-sequence jobs & operators within the shift when a machine goes down or priorities demand it

Escalate & recommend — people issues, schedule conflicts, and anything needing a morning decision go to the Supervisor via pass-down or phone

⚠

On second shift, the pass-down IS the communication channel. Management is not there to see what happened — anything not written down or called in did not happen. A machine that ran perfectly all night and a machine that crashed both look the same at 6:00 AM unless this lead communicates.

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  Overlap with the Machine Shop Supervisor at shift start — review the day's status, tonight's priorities, problem jobs, and what must finish before close

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  Leave a written end-of-shift pass-down every night: what ran, what finished, what's still in a machine, what broke, what deviated from the plan and why, and what QC or the Supervisor needs to see first thing in the morning

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  Escalate by phone when it can't wait until morning — know the difference between a note and a call (a crashed spindle is a call; a dull tool is a note)

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  Document quality escapes, scrap events, tool failures, and near-misses to the same standard as first shift

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  Give direct, honest feedback to second-shift operators in real time; report performance and attendance issues to the Supervisor

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  Own the shift. Execute the second-shift queue set by the Supervisor and own machine utilization from 2:30 PM to close — if a spindle is idle, this lead owns why

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  Re-sequence work within the shift when a machine goes down or a setup stalls — keep spindles turning, then note the deviation in the pass-down

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  Assign second-shift operators across all Haas machines (VF2-SS, VF2, VF3-SSYT, VF3, GR-510), balancing cycle time, setup complexity, and operator skill level

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  Stage tooling, fixtures, and material for tonight's jobs and tomorrow morning's first jobs so first shift starts cutting, not searching

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  Track cycle times and flag deviations from programmed values

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  Fill gaps without hesitation. When operators are absent, run any machine in the department to keep production moving. The schedule comes first.

ⓘ

This section is the reason this role exists as written. Every item below matches the Machine Shop Supervisor's technical scope — and on second shift, there is no fallback if this lead can't do it.

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  Set up and prove out CNC jobs — verify work-holding, tooling, offsets, and first-piece dimensions before releasing to production

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  Read, interpret, and when necessary edit G-code on the floor to correct issues or optimize cycle time — with no engineer in the building