Manufacturing Engineer

Manufacturing Engineer

The Manufacturing Engineer designs, implements, and optimizes equipment assembly processes for telecommunications equipment huts at a startup manufacturing facility. You will partner with engineering and operations to develop assembly workflows, establish manufacturing standards, and continuously improve efficiency and quality as the facility scales. This role directly impacts production timelines, manufacturing quality, first-time-right builds, and overall facility operational success.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Manufacturing Process Design and Optimization — Approximately 60%

• Design, implement, and optimize equipment assembly workflows, workstation layouts, assembly sequences, and material-flow processes that align with engineering specifications and production capacity.
• Develop manufacturing processes from the ground up for a startup and rapidly scaling production environment.
• Develop and maintain detailed assembly procedures, controlled work instructions, process documentation, and manufacturing standards for production-floor teams.
• Translate engineering drawings, specifications, BOMs, and customer requirements into practical and repeatable manufacturing processes.
• Evaluate product designs for manufacturability, assembly efficiency, safety, quality, and production scalability.
• Collaborate with engineering to identify and resolve design-to-manufacturing conflicts before and during production.
• Identify manufacturing constraints, bottlenecks, recurring defects, and opportunities to improve efficiency, quality, and consistency.
• Optimize component staging, material flow, tooling, workstation configuration, and assembly sequencing to reduce build time and rework.
• Establish tooling requirements, workstation configurations, standard assembly methods, and process-control requirements.
• Analyze actual build performance against standard and quoted labor hours and implement corrective actions when targets are not achieved.
• Develop and validate standard build times based on process capability, labor requirements, and actual production data.
• Lead root-cause analysis and corrective-action efforts for systemic assembly, quality, material, and production issues.
• Support capacity planning and production forecasting by assessing process capability, labor requirements, throughput, and constraints.
• Lead continuous-improvement initiatives as shelter volume and configuration complexity increase.
• Train and mentor production team members on assembly processes, work instructions, technical requirements, and quality standards.
• Ensure approved process and configuration changes are documented, controlled, traceable, and communicated to affected teams.

New Shelter Configuration Turnup and Production Execution — Approximately 40%

• Lead the tactical turnup of new shelter configurations from receipt of engineering documentation through successful initial build, validation, and release to repeat production.
• Develop a configuration-specific launch plan addressing required materials, drawings, BOMs, work instructions, tooling, labor assumptions, quality requirements, build sequence, and production timing.
• Review drawings, specifications, BOMs, wiring requirements, and customer requirements to confirm production readiness before the build begins.
• Coordinate with supply chain, operations, engineering, quality, and production planning to confirm material readiness and resolve shortages, discrepancies, or substitutions affecting the build.
• Monitor material availability and staging for new configuration builds and escalate risks that could affect quoted build time or production commitments.
• Provide hands-on assembly and technical support during initial builds, including mechanical component integration, rack installation, power distribution, grounding, alarm systems, wiring, and cable management.
• Directly troubleshoot technical, material, documentation, fit, wiring, sequencing, and assembly problems encountered during configuration turnup.
• Coordinate timely resolution of design discrepancies, BOM errors, missing information, and customer-driven changes.
• Capture redlines, lessons learned, deviations, and build-floor feedback and incorporate approved changes into BOMs, assembly procedures, work instructions, and other controlled documentation.
• Track actual labor hours and build progress against quoted build times and production schedules.
• Identify the causes of unfavorable build-time variances and coordinate recovery or corrective-action plans with the appropriate functions.
• Drive initial configurations toward completion while maintaining safety, quality, documentation, and customer requirements.
• Communicate build status, technical issues, material constraints, schedule risks, and required decisions to leadership and other stakeholders.
• Establish operational consistency for existing designs by ensuring subsequent builds follow validated processes, current documentation, approved materials, and established quality standards.
• Confirm that new configurations are stable, documented, repeatable, and ready for transition to routine production.
• Support subsequent builds as necessary to resolve recurring issues and maintain performance against established time and quality expectations.

Quality Standards and Process Control

• Establish manufacturing quality standards, inspection procedures, testing protocols, and acceptance criteria aligned with ISO/TL9000 and customer requirements.
• Develop testing and validation protocols for initial and repeat shelter builds.
• Partner with Quality to define inspection points, acceptance requirements, defect-tracking methods, and corrective-action processes.
• Analyze defects, rework, and process deviations to identify root causes and prevent recurrence.
• Document assembly processes, test results, build-time performance, defects, corrective actions, and quality metrics.
• Ensure configuration, BOM, process, and assembly changes maintain appropriate traceability and change control.
• Verify that released configurations meet engineering, quality, customer, and manufacturing-readiness requirements.

Cross-Functional and Customer Collaboration

• Partner with design engineering to understand design intent and improve manufacturability.
• Work with operations and production planning to align configuration launches with labor capacity, production schedules, and delivery commitments.
• Coordinate with supply chain and material-management teams to address material requirements, shortages, substitutions, and staging needs.
• Partner with Quality to validate builds and resolve defects or nonconformances.
• Work directly with customers, as appropriate, to clarify technical requirements, validate configurations, address build-related issues, and communicate technical or schedule impacts.
• Communicate manufacturing constraints, configuration status, build-time performance, and production-readiness risks to leadership.
• Support vendor coordination, tooling selection, and equipment qualification for manufacturing processes.

Managerial Responsibility

• This role has no direct reports.

Travel/Shift Requirements

• Occasional travel may be required.
• Position may require schedule flexibility to support production deadlines and facility rampup

Physical Demands

• Ability to safely lift and handle equipment and materials up to 30 pounds regularly
• Ability to work safely with electrical systems and ESD-sensitive equipment
• Ability to stand, bend, reach, and perform assembly work as needed
• Work on factory floor with manufacturing equipment and workstations
• Must be able to talk to communicate information and hear others as well as sounds and signals in the warehouse

Skills and Abilities Required

Manufacturing Engineering & Problem Solving

• Design and optimize manufacturing processes from the ground up
• Identify root causes of assembly or production issues and implement solutions
• Work independently to develop procedures, standards, and workflows
• Manage multiple concurrent process improvements while maintaining execution

Technical Expertise

• Strong ability to interpret engineering drawings, specifications, and BOMs
• Working knowledge of mechanical assembly, cable management, and electrical wiring standards
• Understanding of power systems, grounding systems, DC power distribution, and alarm systems
• Knowledge of manufacturing process design, workflow optimization, and lean principles
• Proficiency with standard office, documentation, and quality management software
• Hands-on competency with assembly tools, diagnostic equipment, and measurement tools

Collaboration & Communication

• Partner effectively with engineering, operations, and production teams
• Communicate manufacturing constraints and optimization opportunities clearly to non-technical and technical stakeholders
• Mentor production team members and build manufacturing discipline
• Translate