Manufacturing Engineer, CNC

We're hiring a Manufacturing Engineer with deep CNC machining expertise to join our team at the FX facility in Torrance, CA. You'll join a group of roughly twenty engineers and SMEs specialized across manufacturing capabilities — sheet metal, tube & pipe, and more — and bring dedicated machining depth at a moment when it matters most: our machining capacity and process maturity are directly on the critical path for one of Hadrian's highest-priority programs. This is a process development and qualification role, not a machine operation role. You'll define machining processes from CAM strategy through first-part-off and drive them to capable, repeatable production — turning tough titanium and Inconel parts into documented, validated processes. You'll be the machining voice in capital equipment decisions, supporting SMEs through capex selection, and you'll partner with the factory development team as new capability is installed, commissioned, and brought online. It's a role for an engineer who combines hands-on machining judgment with data-driven rigor (DOE, SPC, capability studies) and wants their fingerprints on both the parts and the machines we buy — all in a fast-moving, high-mix, low-volume environment.

What You’ll Do

• Lead CNC machining process development and research end to end — machining strategy, CAM/toolpath direction, cutting parameters, workholding and fixturing, and in-process probing — for complex, tight-tolerance aerospace and defense parts in a high-mix, low-volume environment (5-axis strongly preferred; mill-turn a plus), with a focus on steel, titanium and Inconel.
• Qualify processes to capable, repeatable production: first-article builds, process capability studies (Cp/Cpk), SPC, and DOE-driven parameter optimization.
• Serve as the CNC subject-matter expert supporting the capital equipment (capex) selection process — defining requirements and runoff criteria, evaluating machine tools, vendor assessment and capability studies, and factory acceptance testing (FAT).
• Support the factory development team as new machining capability comes online — providing machining expertise through equipment installation, commissioning, and machine bring-up from first-part-off to fully ramped and stabilized production.
• Provide Design for Machinability (DFM) feedback and tolerance definition to design and engineering teams, and drive cycle-time and cost-down improvements against aggressive program milestones.

What We're Looking For

• 4+ years of manufacturing engineering experience in CNC machining processes in aerospace & defense, precision manufacturing, medical device, or consumer electronics environments (a BS in Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineering is great; equivalent hands-on experience is just as valued).
• Deep multi-axis expertise: 3–5-axis simultaneous milling and turning/mill-turn, with CAM proficiency (e.g., hyperMILL, NX CAM, Mastercam) and the judgment to direct programming strategies and review toolpaths even when you're not the primary programmer.
• Hands-on experience machining titanium, Inconel, or other difficult-to-machine alloys — practical command of cutting tools and coatings, speeds and feeds, tool-life management, and thermal/distortion control.
• Strong fundamentals in GD&T (ASME Y14.5), workholding/fixture design, inspection, and process validation — with a demonstrated data-driven method (SPC, DOE, process capability analysis) behind yield and process-change decisions.
• Ability to operate autonomously in a fast-moving, high-mix environment.