SPACE SYSTEMS

This is a rare opportunity to play a key role in Rocket Lab's evolution into an end-to-end space company that delivers launch, spacecraft, and on-orbit operations. The Space Systems Division is shaping Rocket Lab's future with Photon, our brand of high-performance satellites, enabling innovative missions in low Earth orbit and beyond including missions for NASA to LEO, the Moon, and Mars and commercial customers, including leading the design and manufacture of 17 high-power telecommunication spacecraft buses for Globalstar.

Rocket Lab is also growing our spacecraft components business, anchored on the acquisition of Sinclair Interplanetary manufacturing reaction wheels and star trackers in Toronto, SolAero Technologies manufacturing solar power and primary structure solutions in Albuquerque, Planetary Systems Corporation manufacturing launch separation systems in Silver Spring, and Advanced Solutions, Inc., provider of flight and ground software as a service in Denver. Our components business is key to vertically integrating our spacecraft solutions and enabling constellations for customers.

SENIOR PRODUCTION ENGINEERING MANAGER

Based out of Rocket Lab's new site in Albuquerque, New Mexico as part of the SolAero Technologies acquisition, the Production Engineering Manager is responsible for directing the development and implementation of activities in manufacturing, test, and product engineering management. You will support the VP of Operations and Production organization, with deliverables required for internal leadership, board of directors, and investors.

WHAT YOU'LL GET TO DO:

• Determine and review all manufacturing processes for cost effectiveness and feasibility, both before and after engineering releases to manufacturing
• Coordinate and oversee configuration of all engineering releases and changes relative to routings, setting standards, data entry, and follow-up
• Oversee all work instructions, product specifications and operator certifications
• Determine product costing via analysis of materials, labor, overhead and yield
• Oversee new tool procurement: determine ROI, set specifications, evaluate vendors, assist in coordinating delivery, installation, qualification, piloting and integration into production
• Oversee all statistical process controls
• Oversee RCCA investigations for manufacturing excursions
• Interface with R&D on new product launches and volume-manufacturing development
• Determine priorities and implement cost-reduction projects; maintain detailed documentation as required
• Track Yield / COPQ performance summary and drive process improvement initiatives
• Drive process capability dashboard (CPK by process)
• Investigate, justify, purchase, and track all company assets
• Ensure conformity to safety regulations as well as internal safety practices
• Prepare all departmental budgets as necessary; ensure conformance as required
• Deploy the Quality Management System (QMS) as it applies to the scope of work

YOU'LL BRING THESE QUALIFICATIONS – (Note: you must meet every qualification in order to be considered):

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or other technical discipline
• 9+ years of experience working in a manufacturing environment
• 4+ years of engineering management or leadership experience
• Knowledge of manufacturing operations
• Ability to write reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals
• Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions
• Ability to work with mathematical concepts such as probability and statistical inference, and fundamentals of plane and solid geometry and trigonometry
• Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients, customers, and the general public

THESE QUALIFICATIONS WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE:

• JMP, SQL
• Experience working in the semiconductor or aerospace industry
• Experience working with cleanrooms and their requirements
• Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, or government regulations
• Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables
• Theoretical and working knowledge of III-V epitaxial growth, photolithography, e-beam evaporation, wafer grinding, wafer bonding, wafer dicing, wet etch, dry etch, solar cell physics and testing, friction welding, parallel gap welding, adhesives, resistance temperature detectors.

PHYSICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL DEMANDS:

• Regularly required to use hands
• Frequently required to sit; occasionally required to stand and walk
• Close vision, distant vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus
• Occasionally exposed to fumes or airborne particles
• Ability to work in a cleanroom environment
• Noise level in the work environment is usually moderate

BENEFITS AND LOCATION:

• Relocation eligible to local area – Albuquerque, NM – depending on position
• 9/80 schedule
• Healthcare (medical, dental, vision)
• 401k match up to 3%
• 10 paid company holidays and 16 days of PTO
• Employee stock purchase plan (ESPP)

SolAero by Rocket Lab is based in Albuquerque (ABQ), in the heart of New Mexico. ABQ offers both affordability and easy access to the outdoors and rich cultural centers such as museums and art galleries. With almost 300 days of sunshine a year, but also proximity to secluded ski slopes, there's something for everyone who loves the outdoors. You'll also find plenty of opportunities to try authentic New Mexican cuisine – a delicious blend of traditional Native American foods mixed with roasted green chiles. Fun fact: ABQ is the hot air ballooning capital of the world! It's for all these reasons and more that New Mexico is known as the Land of Enchantment.