Manager, Tooling Engineering (Aerospace)

Location: Torrance, California, United States; support facility ramp and production scaling at Midland, Texas and the Project Ranger campus in New Mexico.

Company

hirify.global develops and delivers advanced solid rocket motor, hypersonic, aerospace, and defense systems.

What you will do

• Lead the tooling engineering team through prioritization, technical direction, hiring, mentoring, and performance management.
• Own the design, review, qualification, and production release of fixtures, jigs, holding tools, assembly aids, and process tooling for solid rocket motor hardware.
• Establish tooling design standards, documentation practices, drawing packages, and configuration control while contributing Design for Manufacturability and Design for Tooling input.
• Partner with Manufacturing Engineering, Automation & Controls, Quality, Design, suppliers, machine shops, and Site Operations on work-cell concepts, fabrication, and automated tooling solutions.
• Oversee first-article tryouts, process capability assessments, maintenance, spare-parts strategy, life tracking, and continuous improvement.
• Report tooling readiness, risk, cost, and schedule metrics and support safe production scaling in energetic-materials facilities.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related field required; a master’s degree is preferred.
• 8+ years of tooling design or manufacturing engineering experience in aerospace, defense, or complex composite and precision assembly; this experience must include designing and releasing production tooling for composite structures, bonded assemblies, or propulsion hardware.
• 3+ years leading engineers or serving as a technical lead on tooling programs.
• Strong proficiency in 3D CAD, specifically SolidWorks or NX, for fixture and tooling design.
• Experience with GD&T, tolerance stack-up, fixture concepting, and manufacturing documentation.
• Working knowledge of composite layup and winding fixtures, bonding fixtures, machining fixtures, and assembly tooling.
• Knowledge of tooling materials, surface treatments, wear, cleanability, maintainability, automation interfaces, and work-cell constraints.
• Understanding of aerospace quality systems, including AS9100, and configuration control.
• Ability to lead and develop tooling engineers while retaining technical credibility; collaborate across Manufacturing, Automation, Design, and Operations; communicate technical risk, schedule, and cost; and apply hands-on, disciplined, safety-first problem-solving.
• Access to export-controlled information requires eligibility to access applicable information without additional export licensing; classified work may require U.S. Government security clearance, authorization, citizenship, or other eligibility requirements when applicable.

Nice to have

• Direct tooling experience with solid rocket motor cases, nozzles, liners, or missile composite structures.
• Experience in fast-paced defense or space manufacturing environments and scaling tooling from development to high-rate production.
• People leadership of a tooling or fixture design team.
• Familiarity with ITAR programs, classified manufacturing, and energetic-materials facilities.
• Experience reducing tooling-related scrap, cycle time, or changeover time.

Culture & Benefits

• Early-stage environment emphasizing focus, ownership, execution, and excellence.
• Generous benefits package; details are provided on the company careers page.
• Equal opportunity employment and reasonable accommodations are available throughout the application and hiring process.