Location : Lake Forest, CA

Salary : $150,000 — $190,000

Bonus : $10/k – $15k

Position Summary

Seeking a Production Systems Engineer to lead the design, implementation, validation, and continuous improvement of manufacturing and repair production lines supporting advanced technology programs. This role is central to standing up new U.S.-based production capabilities, replicating existing production lines, and ensuring readiness for low-rate and full-rate production. This position reports to the Senior Vice President, Advanced Technology Programs and works in close partnership with Program Management, Quality, Supply Chain, and Engineering. The ideal candidate is a seasoned manufacturing or industrialization engineer who is highly hands-on, comfortable on the production floor, and experienced in building disciplined, repeatable processes for complex hardware.

Key Responsibilities

Production Line Design and Stand-Up

• Lead the end-to-end design and implementation of manufacturing and repair production lines for advanced electro-optical systems.
• Define production line layouts, work cell designs, material flow, and operator interfaces to support efficient,
• repeatable assembly and test.
• Specify and implement work benches, fixtures, tooling, shadow boards, ESD controls, and environmental
• Support facility build-out activities related to production readiness, including layout planning and equipment installation.

Manufacturing Process Development

• Author, adapt, and maintain detailed manufacturing work instructions, travelers, routings, and standard operating procedures in collaboration with Quality Engineering.
• Define and implement manufacturing processes covering assembly, alignment, integration, test, rework, and
• Partner with engineering to transition designs into production-ready configurations, identifying
• manufacturability risks and mitigations.
• Support process characterization, yield improvement, and cycle-time reduction initiatives.

Test and Verification Implementation

• Implement production test plans and verification flows in coordination with engineering and quality.
• Support installation, integration, and validation of corporate-provided test and verification equipment.
• Ensure environmental testing such as thermal and vibration testing is integrated into the production flow as
• Support validation of production lines prior to LRIP and FRP.

Production Readiness and Ramp

• Lead manufacturing readiness activities for LRIP and FRP, including process validation, tooling readiness, and
• operator qualification.
• Support phased production ramps, identifying bottlenecks, capacity constraints, and risks.
• Develop and execute corrective actions to address production issues, non-conformances, or inefficiencies.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Program Management to align manufacturing plans with program schedules, milestones, and cost objectives.
• Partner with Quality Engineering to ensure manufacturing processes meet quality, compliance, and documentation requirements.
• Collaborate with Supply Chain to support supplier qualification, incoming inspection strategies, and part
• Support hiring, onboarding, training, and on-the-job training of technicians performing assembly, test, and repair.

Qualifications

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• 8-15 years of experience in manufacturing engineering, production systems engineering, or industrialization roles.
• Demonstrated experience standing up new production lines or replicating existing lines in regulated manufacturing environments.

Manufacturing and Technical Background

• Strong experience with complex electromechanical hardware and precision assemblies.
• Hands-on experience with work instruction development, tooling and fixture implementation, production test
• integration, and line validation.
• Familiarity with manufacturing in regulated industries such as aerospace, defense, or medical devices.
• Working knowledge of production readiness, process validation, and continuous improvement methodologies.

Skills and Attributes

• Highly hands-on, pragmatic, and execution focused.
• Comfortable spending significant time on the production floor working directly with technicians.
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to drive issues to root cause and closure.
• Effective communicator able to work across engineering, quality, supply chain, and program teams.
• Self-directed and comfortable operating with minimal oversight in a fast-moving environment.

Why Us?

Competitive Benefits: Medical plan coverage, 401k plan with employer matching, Paid time-off, Tuition reimbursement, Profit sharing.

High-impact mission support: Your work contributes to critical surveillance platforms used by US DoD, DHS, NASA, and international clients.

Modular, future-proof design: Work with systems built for long-term operation and upgradeability.

Quality-driven environment: Operate within AS9100D and ISO 9001 certified processes.