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Lead Manufacturing Engineer

Loft Orbital Solutions

Job Location:

Golden, CO - USA

Yearly Salary: USD 125000 - 190000

Posted: 29 September 2026 (Yesterday)

Application Deadline: 27 December 2026

Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

Wanna join the adventure

Loft Orbital is looking for a Manufacturing Engineering Lead to help scale the way we build spacecraft.
This is a hands-on player-coach role combining technical leadership with direct Manufacturing Engineering execution. Youll spend approximately half of your time providing technical direction prioritizing work and mentoring Manufacturing Engineers while remaining deeply involved in the day-to-day engineering required to build troubleshoot and improve our spacecraft production processes.

Youll work directly on the production floor and partner closely with AIT Design Engineering Production Planning Supply Chain and Quality to translate spacecraft designs into robust repeatable manufacturing processes. From developing work instructions and tooling to resolving production issues and improving manufacturability youll personally own engineering work while helping the broader team operate effectively and scale.

What Success Looks Like:

Youll be successful in this role by being equally comfortable leading the team and doing the work yourself.
Youll help Manufacturing Engineers prioritize and solve difficult problems while personally developing processes supporting technicians troubleshooting production issues and driving spacecraft builds forward. Over time your work will help turn spacecraft designs into increasingly repeatable scalable and production-ready manufacturing processes enabling Loft to increase production capacity without compromising the quality and reliability required for flight hardware.

About this Role:

Act as a hands-on Manufacturing Engineer directly supporting spacecraft assembly integration and production alongside the Manufacturing Engineering team.
Develop and maintain manufacturing process plans detailed work instructions routings BOMs and other production documentation required to execute spacecraft builds.
Provide hands-on engineering support on the production floor working directly with technicians to troubleshoot assembly and integration issues and remove production blockers.
Develop and validate manufacturing processes tooling fixtures equipment and production layouts required for spacecraft assembly and integration.
Lead root cause investigations for manufacturing and production issues and implement effective corrective and preventive actions.
Review engineering designs and documentation for manufacturability providing actionable Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) feedback to Design Engineering.
Manage and maintain EBOM/MBOM/PBOM alignment routings work orders and manufacturing documentation within ERP/MRP/MES environments.
Identify and execute continuous improvement initiatives that improve quality throughput repeatability ergonomics and production efficiency.
Lead Manufacturing Engineering activities across spacecraft builds helping prioritize work and providing technical direction while remaining accountable for your own engineering deliverables.
Mentor and support Manufacturing Engineers helping develop their technical capabilities and establishing consistent Manufacturing Engineering practices across the team.
Serve as a technical liaison between Engineering and Operations ensuring engineering intent is translated into clear controlled and executable processes on the production floor.
Identify and implement new manufacturing technologies equipment tooling and automation that enable Loft to scale spacecraft production.

Must Haves:

8 years of professional experience in Manufacturing Engineering Production Engineering Industrial Engineering or a related discipline within aerospace spacecraft or another complex high-reliability hardware environment.
Bachelors degree in Engineering or a related technical discipline or equivalent relevant experience.
Demonstrated experience providing technical leadership or mentorship while remaining a hands-on individual contributor within a manufacturing or production environment.
Strong hands-on understanding of complex hardware manufacturing and assembly processes including electronics assembly hand soldering harness fabrication mechanical assembly bonding/polymerics and/or precision hardware integration.
Ability to read interpret and provide feedback on engineering documentation including mechanical drawings GD&T electrical schematics CAD models wire lists BOMs and engineering specifications.
Experience personally developing and maintaining manufacturing process plans assembly instructions routings BOMs and production documentation under configuration control.
Experience working within ERP/MRP/MES systems and understanding the relationship between EBOMs MBOMs/PBOMs routings work orders inventory and production execution.
Demonstrated experience solving complex production problems through structured root cause analysis and corrective action.
Strong understanding of lean manufacturing and continuous improvement principles with demonstrated experience improving manufacturing quality efficiency or throughput.
Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills with the ability to work effectively across Engineering Operations Quality Supply Chain and Production teams.
Willingness and ability to work on-site in Golden Colorado including significant hands-on support directly on the production floor.

Nice to Haves:

Previous experience manufacturing assembling integrating or testing spacecraft or other spaceflight hardware.
Previous hands-on experience as an aerospace or spacecraft technician.
Experience with aerospace manufacturing and workmanship standards such as AS9100 IPC-A-610 IPC/WHMA-A-620 J-STD-001 NASA standards and/or ECSS.
Current or previous IPC workmanship certifications.
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt certification.
Experience designing manufacturing tooling fixtures production layouts or assembly aids.
Experience scaling manufacturing operations from low-volume development builds toward higher-rate production.
Experience implementing or improving ERP MRP or MES systems and manufacturing data structures.
Experience with manufacturing automation data analysis or scripting tools such as Python.

Some of Our Awesome Benefits:

100% company-paid medical dental and vision insurance option for employees and dependents
Flexible Spending (FSA) and Health Savings (HSA) Accounts offered with an employer contribution to the HSA
100% employer paid Life AD&D Short-Term and Long-Term Disability insurance
Flexible Time Off policy for vacation and sick leave and 12 paid holidays
401(k) plan and equity options
Daily catered lunches and snacks
International exposure to our team in France
Fully paid parental leave; 14 weeks for primary caregiver and 10 weeks for secondary caregiver
Carrot Fertility provides comprehensive inclusive fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits with financial support
Off-sites and many social events and celebrations
Relocation assistance when applicable

$125000 - $190000 a year

State law requires us to tell you the base compensation range for this role which is $125000- $190000 per year. This is determined by your education experience knowledge skills and abilities. The salary range for this role is intentionally wide as we evaluate individuals based on their unique experience and abilities to fit our needs. Most importantly we are excited to meet you and see if you are a great fit for our team. What we cantquantify for you are the exciting challenges supportive team and amazing culture we enjoy.

*Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria women and other underrepresented people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications. At Loft we value respectful debate and people who arent afraid to challenge assumptions. We strongly encourage you to apply even if you dont check all the boxes.

Who We Are

Loft: Space Made Simple.

Founded in 2017 Loft provides governments companies and research institutions with a fast reliable and simple way to deploy missions in orbit.

We integrate launch and operate spacecraft offering end-to-end missions as a service across Earth observation IoT connectivity on-orbit AI national security missions and more. Leveraging our existing space infrastructure and an extensive inventory of satellite buses Loft is reducing years-long integration and launch timelines to months. With more than 30 missions flown Lofts flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives.

With a growing fleet on track to reach 30 satellites by 2027 we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco CA Golden CO and Toulouse France to meet accelerating demand for space infrastructure.

As an international company your resume will be reviewed by people across our offices so please attach a copy in English.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process such as reviewing applications analyzing resumes or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed please contact us.

Required Experience:

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