Aerospace CNC Machining Team Lead

Job Description

Job Description

Aerospace CNC Machining Team Lead

Lead from the front in a high-precision aerospace environment where your hands-on machining expertise sets the pace for quality and throughput.

A day in the life

You start on the production floor—loading a 5-axis cycle, dialing in offsets on a horizontal, and guiding a machinist through a tricky prove-out. By mid-morning, you’ve optimized tooling for a new aerospace component, tweaked G/M-code at the control to stabilize surface finish, and coordinated with Engineering on a prototype fixture concept. The afternoon brings a first article inspection review, a quick design for a set of soft jaws, and a mentoring session with a junior machinist on advanced inspection techniques. You wrap up by aligning priorities for the next shift and reinforcing a culture of safety, quality, and accountability.

What you’ll do

• Own day-to-day shop-floor coordination while working shoulder-to-shoulder with machinists on live production.
• Serve as the go-to technical resource for operators across the cell.
• Support machining across 3-, 4-, and 5-axis verticals, horizontal machining centers, CNC lathes (including Swiss-type), grinders, saws, and manual equipment.
• Run setups, prove-outs, troubleshooting, tooling optimization, and continuous process improvement.
• Read/interpret G- and M-code and perform on-machine edits (feeds, speeds, offsets, tooling changes).
• Partner with Engineering, Programming, and Quality for prototypes, development builds, and NPI.
• Uphold AS9100 and customer quality requirements; support first article inspections and corrective actions.
• Design, build, modify, and validate fixtures, soft jaws, workholding, toolholders, fixture plates, spacers, bushings, and other aids.
• Invent tooling and workholding strategies for new aerospace parts with no established process.
• Collaborate with Engineering to ensure dimensional accuracy, repeatability, capability, and scalable production.
• Mentor and train machinists; reinforce a safe, high-quality, accountable culture.
• All other duties as assigned.

Your background

• High School Diploma or equivalent; trade school credentials a plus.
• 5+ years of machining experience.
• Aerospace manufacturing exposure with AS9100/ISO 9001 familiarity.

Technical strengths

• Deep knowledge of GD&T, blueprint reading, tooling/fixturing, and machining processes.
• Comfort with G/M-code at the control.
• Hands-on CNC milling and turning experience.
• Proficient with Haas, Mazak, Fanuc, Hurco, or similar controls for setup and operation.
• Fluency with precision metrology: micrometers, calipers, height gauges, pins/blocks, etc.
• Experience with 3-, 4-, and 5-axis VMCs and 4-axis HMCs.
• Mastercam CAD/CAM; SolidWorks proficiency.
• CMM programming, including CMM Manager.
• Safety-first mindset with exceptional attention to detail.

Proficiencies

• GD&T
• Equipment Troubleshooting
• CNC Tooling
• CNC Machine Setup & Changeover
• Advanced Inspection & Gauge Measurement

Equipment & software you’ll work with

• CNC Mill (3–4 axis VMC) — Fanuc, Mazak, Haas
• CNC Lathe (2–4 axis) — Mazak, Haas, Okuma
• CAM — Mastercam, Esprit, GibbsCAM
• CNC Mill (5+ axis VMC) — Mazak, Haas, Dmg Mori Seiki
• CNC Lathe (5+ axis) — Mazak, Okuma, Dmg Mori Seiki

Compliance

ITAR/EAR REQUIREMENTS

This position requires access to export control information. To conform to US Export Control regulations, the applicant should be eligible for any required authorization from the US Government.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS/WORK ENVIRONMENT

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Must be able to lift and carry up to 40 pounds and comply with OSHA standards. While performing the duties of this job, the employee may be regularly required to sit, stand, bend, reach, and move about the facility. The environmental characteristic for this position is a manufacturing setting and is occasionally exposed to heat, cold, and wet. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.