Senior Tooling Engineer

Senior Tooling Engineer (Confidential Search)

Torrance, CA or Rio Rancho, NM | $140,000 to $230,000 base + equity

The Opportunity

Our client is a fast-growing, well-backed defense manufacturing startup building advanced propulsion and weapon systems. They apply a commercial, high-speed approach to hardware: short iterative design cycles, early and frequent real-world testing, and modern manufacturing methods, in a domain that has historically moved slowly. The team is small, fast, and execution-focused.

They are hiring a Senior Tooling Engineer to own the tooling that makes their hardware manufacturable at rate.

The Problem You Would Own

You will design and build tooling assemblies (jigs, fixtures, molds, dies, and assembly tooling) for aerospace and missile-class components. A key near-term challenge is scaling solid rocket motor propellant manufacturing: energetic material handled at production scale, in large batches with strict thermal and handling constraints. The tooling has to hit cost and throughput targets without compromising the safety and process requirements that energetic materials demand.

What You Would Do

Design complex tooling (jigs, fixtures, molds, dies, assembly tools) in CAD

Run tolerance stack-up and FEA to validate designs

Drive tooling efficiency and product-quality improvements

Lead projects from concept through production, owning timelines, budgets, and resources

Mentor junior engineers and technicians

Ensure compliance with aerospace standards (AS9100, NADCAP) and apply design-for-manufacturability

Partner with design, supply chain, and production on manufacturability and troubleshooting

What You Bring

Bachelor's in Mechanical, Electrical, or Manufacturing Engineering, or a related field

5+ years of tooling design and development experience

Preferred: new product introduction / pilot / production-transition experience, complex-build troubleshooting, and a regulated or defense manufacturing background

Details

Location: two sites available (Southern California or New Mexico); relocation supported; some inter-site travel

Compensation: $140,000 to $230,000 base, plus long-term stock incentives, full medical, vision, and dental, and four weeks PTO

Eligibility: ITAR applies. Must be a US citizen