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Astro Mechanica is a vertically integrated aerospace company developing supersonic aircraft and advanced propulsion systems, including their proprietary Duality™ dual-use propulsion system. The company is building adaptable, high-speed systems for government and commercial applications, with a mission to democratize high-speed flight.
As Senior Tooling Design Engineer, you will own the complete tooling strategy for Astro Mechanica's airframe manufacturing, from detail parts through joined airframe assembly. You will design and deliver large assembly fixtures for major airframe assembly, along with drill jigs, trim and bond fixtures, layup tools, and shop aids. Your responsibilities include establishing locating and datum strategies across the build sequence, performing tolerance stack-up and GD&T analysis to ensure airframe closure, and serving as the technical authority on tooling for composite and metallic airframe structures.
You will help establish the tooling function from scratch, including design standards, drawing practices, tool numbering systems, vendor base development, and proof-out processes. You will carry tooling from purchase order through build, installation, and certification—whether in-house or outsourced—while managing budget, schedule, and vendor relationships. You will run tool proof-out and first article builds alongside production technicians, define metrology approaches for tool certification using laser trackers and CMMs, and mentor early-career tool designers and technicians.
Additional responsibilities include investigating tooling-related defects and driving corrective actions, planning transitions from prototype to higher-rate production tooling, and evaluating new tooling technologies. You will work closely with design and manufacturing teams to influence product architecture for manufacturability and assembly, and maintain aerospace-grade standards for ergonomics, safety, quality, and documentation.
Required qualifications include 7+ years designing aircraft or aerospace tooling with full lifecycle ownership, a degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, or Manufacturing Engineering, demonstrated experience with both large monolithic fixtures and detail tooling, strong hands-on composite assembly knowledge, practical experience with weldments and metallic structures, expert CAD proficiency (preferably NX), applied GD&T expertise, metrology experience, and proven ability to lead and mentor while staying technically engaged.
