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Firestorm is a VC-backed defense technology company building expeditionary manufacturing capabilities for modular, mission-adaptable unmanned systems and components. This Senior Process Engineer role owns cable and harness manufacturing processes from prototype through supplier production ramp.
You will develop and validate manufacturing processes for cable and harness assemblies, including wire prep, crimp, termination, shield termination, backshells, and overmold. During new product introduction (NPI), you'll work hands-on at the formboard to prove processes in-house, then package and transfer them to harness suppliers without losing critical detail. For RF assemblies, you own process oversight and technical review of test criteria with engineering.
Key responsibilities include:
- Develop cable and harness manufacturing processes for prototype and early production phases
- Author manufacturing planning documentation: work instructions, formboard layouts, wire lists, MBOMs, routings, and travelers
- Establish and maintain process controls: crimp height and pull-test sampling plans, tool verification, calibration intervals, cure parameters, and ESD controls
- Design, source, build, and prove tooling and fixtures: formboards, crimp tooling, positioners, pull-test setups, and overmold tooling
- Own non-RF harness electrical test including test programs, adapter cables, fixtures, and failure disposition
- Review RF cable assembly test criteria with engineering and assess incoming test data
- Build manufacturing data packages for supplier transfer and own transition planning: timeline, tooling duplication, operator training, dual-source strategy
- Lead supplier process qualification, first article inspections, on-site audits, and build readiness reviews; serve as technical point of contact for supplier escapes and deviations
- Provide DFM and DFT feedback to electrical design on connector selection, wire callouts, service loops, breakout geometry, and harness segmentation
- Perform capacity analysis, takt time, line balancing, and floor layout for prototype and pilot cells; validate supplier capacity against rate demand
- Lead root cause and corrective action analysis (RCCA) on process escapes and field returns
- Train technicians to documented methods and improve methods where needed
- Uphold 5S, foreign object debris (FOD), ESD control, and shop safety standards
This is a bench and planning role: you'll be at the formboard during first builds identifying process gaps, and at supplier facilities ensuring execution matches documentation. The processes and tooling you develop travel and get transferred, so documentation must be clear for those who weren't in the room.
Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Industrial, or Electrical Engineering, or equivalent (10+ years progressive relevant experience in lieu of degree)
- U.S. Person status as defined by 22 CFR § 120.62 (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected asylee/refugee status) due to ITAR regulations
- 5+ years of manufacturing or process engineering with hands-on depth in cable, harness, or electromechanical assembly
- Experience in crimp and termination processes and rugged connector families (circular MIL-spec, micro-D, D-sub, RF/coax), including shield and braid termination
- Working knowledge of IPC/WHMA-A-620 and J-STD-001, with ability to apply and defend acceptance criteria on the floor
- Experience taking a product from prototype into production
- Harness test development for non-RF assemblies: continuity and hipot systems, fixture and adapter design, test program creation
- Proven RCCA capability using structured problem solving, with evidence of preventive action
- Fluency with schematics, wire lists, interconnect diagrams, and mechanical drawings including GD&T
- Practical command of lean principles: standard work, line balancing, cell layout
- Familiarity with PLM, ERP, and MES systems and handoffs between them
- Comfortable working in the gap between engineering and production, able to hold technical positions with engineers while staying credible with technicians
Preferred qualifications include: demonstrated supplier process transfer experience, full production ramp ownership, active Secret clearance, hands-on RF cable assembly or RF test experience, mixed-commodity background (cable plus mechanical or electronics assembly), UAV/experimental aircraft/low-volume aerospace experience, automated wire processing equipment and harness design tools knowledge, overmolding/potting/environmental sealing process development, continuous improvement projects with quantified results or formal Lean/Six Sigma training, AS9100 environment experience, FAI/AS9102 and supplier quality experience, IPC/WHMA-A-620 CIS or CIT certification, and CAD proficiency for tooling modeling and detailing.
