Manufacturing Engineer, Additive

Astranis builds advanced satellites for high orbits, expanding humanity’s reach into the solar system. Today, Astranis satellites provide dedicated, secure networks to highly-sophisticated customers across the globe— large enterprises, sovereign governments, and the US military. With five satellites on orbit and many more set to launch soon, the company is servicing a backlog of more than $1 billion of commercial contracts.

Astranis is the preferred satellite communications partner for buyers with stringent requirements for uptime, data security, network visibility, and customization. Astranis has raised over $750 million from some of the world’s best investors, from Andreessen Horowitz to Blackrock and Fidelity, and employs a team of 450 engineers and entrepreneurs. Astranis designs, builds, and operates its satellites out of its 153,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Northern California, USA.

Manufacturing Engineer, Additive

This role is our first Manufacturing Engineer focused on additive manufacturing and will be responsible for building Astranis's additive manufacturing capability from the ground up. This Engineer owns the entire lifecycle of our additive components — from working closely with the mechanical engineering team to ensure parts are designed for manufacturability to developing production processes, tooling, and inspection procedures on the factory floor. The Manufacturing Engineer is a highly cross-functional role requiring both technical and hands on skills to bridge the gap between design and production. A successful candidate will apply knowledge of GD&T, 5-axis CNC machining, additive qualification processes, and CMM/ optical inspection to solve difficult problems in real time and drive improvements that directly impact our ability to get to space faster. 

Role

• Own additive metal by developing Astranis's Laser Bed Powder Fusion process from the ground up.
• Own PEEK, ULTEM, and other engineered thermoplastic 3D printing processes.  
• Work with design engineering to drive Design for Additive Manufacturing (DFAM), including participating in design reviews and assisting in tolerance stack up analysis.
• Develop standard operating procedures for printer calibration and maintenance.
• Develop process monitoring capability and print quality inspection criteria to ensure high print quality with minimal yield loss.
• Develop qualification tests and standard coupons for printed part quality and as-printed material properties.
• Write work instructions, work order templates, process specifications, and other build documents.
• Troubleshoot non-conformances on the floor to determine a disposition, root cause, and drive corrective actions. 
• Assist in machining and programming operations as required for R&D and production.
• Assist in designing and creating fixturing for production.
• Work with supplier quality and contract manufacturers, to develop their manufacturing and quality processes and respond to questions and issues.
• Design and implement lean systems for continuous improvement.
• Own 5S activities throughout the additive manufacturing area.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, physics, or equivalent technical degree.
• 2+ years of direct professional experience in additive manufacturing, more specifically metal (Laser Bed Powder Fusion).
• Experience with explosive/combustible powder storage and handling best practices. 
• Familiarity with additive software (nTop, 3DXpert, Materialise Magics, Netfabbm Ansys Additivem Altair Inspire Print 3D, or equivalents)
• 1+ years of experience in CNC machining, with exposure to complex machining centers (5-axis mills).
• Experience with 3D CAD software (Solidworks, Siemens NX, or similar).
• Highly competent in GD&T and drawing reviews.
• Experience in writing technical documents. 
• Knowledge of different manufacturing process and their general quality capability. 
• Mechanical design experience including creating solid models and prints.
• Must be onsite 5 days a week.

Bonus

• Masters degree in relevant STEM field, especially with applications in Additive Manufacturing.
• Experience with advanced post processing techniques such as annealing and Hot Isostatic Pressing. 
• Experience with CAM software (Fusion 360, Mastercam, Siemens NX, or similar).
• Hands on experience working as a Machinist programming and running 5-axis parts. 
• Experience working with complex machining centers (mill/ turns, horizontals, multi-channel machines, and automated systems).
• Has worked with contract manufacturers to set up and qualify manufacturing processes.
• Hands-on experience reading and interpreting first article inspection reports, using precision hand tools, and implementing tolerance stack up analysis on parts.
• Experience with MES/ MRP systems in a production environment.