Tooling Engineer - Composites (Manufacturing Engineering)

Location: South Burlington/Burlington, Vermont, United States; regular presence on the production floor is required.

Salary: $85,000–$115,000 USD annually

Company

Develops electric aircraft with a focus on aviation innovation and sustainability.

What you will do

• Design and release molds, trim and drill fixtures, assembly and inspection fixtures, caul plates, handling equipment, and other composite manufacturing tooling.
• Develop tooling concepts and detailed CAD designs that address part geometry, tolerances, thermal behavior, demolding, ergonomics, durability, inspection access, and production rate.
• Own tooling from requirements capture and concept selection through drawing release, supplier support, first-article validation, production handoff, maintenance, and continuous improvement.
• Partner with Design Engineering on design-for-manufacturability topics including tooling splits, draft, ply drops, core transitions, bondline control, and production access.
• Work with production technicians, Quality, internal shops, and external suppliers to resolve tooling issues, reduce variation and cycle time, and improve safety.
• Support composite process development and scale-up across layup, debulk, cure, bonding, trimming, drilling, and assembly operations.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Aerospace, or a related engineering discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.
• 3+ years of manufacturing engineering experience involving production tooling, fixtures, or composite manufacturing equipment.
• Professional CAD and engineering drawing experience, including NX, CATIA, SolidWorks, or equivalent tools and surface modeling workbenches.
• Experience independently designing and delivering complex, multi-piece tooling from requirements through production use.
• Working knowledge of GD&T, tolerance analysis, datum strategy, composite ply definitions, manufacturing requirements, and dimensional inspection methods such as CMM or laser scanning.
• Experience in aerospace composite structures or another high-reliability, regulated manufacturing environment, with the ability to work safely in a hands-on production setting.

Nice to have

• Knowledge of prepreg layup, resin infusion/VARTM, compression molding, wet layup, or out-of-autoclave curing.
• Experience with machining, CNC programming considerations, additive manufacturing, and composite tooling fabrication.
• Experience with high-temperature cure tooling and coefficient-of-thermal-expansion effects.
• Familiarity with PLM/PDM, configuration control, change management, and manufacturing-document release processes.
• Working knowledge of Python, MATLAB, VBA, or similar engineering automation tools.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time employment with Restricted Stock Units and Performance Stock Units.
• Onsite healthcare in Vermont, medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Short- and long-term disability coverage and paid parental leave.
• Daily lunch provided and flight lessons included.
• Work across office and active aircraft manufacturing environments with required PPE when handling composite materials, resins, and curing agents.