Lead Astro Mechanica's composite technicians day to day on the floor, setting the standard for workmanship and holding the team to it
Help build the team: interview candidates, onboard and train new technicians, develop a skills matrix, and grow people into harder work
Help stand up Astro Mechanica's airframe manufacturing operation from scratch, including facilities, workflows, tooling concepts, equipment and consumables needs, with a focus on both rapid implementation and future scalability
Run the daily build: sequence the work, assign the crew, track progress against milestones, and raise blockers before they cost schedule
Perform and supervise layup, bagging, infusion, cure, bonding, trimming, drilling, and assembly of airframe structure
Own the condition of molds, layup tools, and assembly fixtures in the shop, and coordinate repair or replacement with the tool design team
Work shoulder to shoulder with the Airframe Manufacturing Engineers and Airframe Design Engineers to turn build plans into process that actually runs on the floor
Feed engineering real build data: what is slow, what is fragile, and what the drawing does not account for
Establish and improve shop practice around material handling, out-time control, kitting, cleanliness, consumables, and cure records
Check your team's work in process and at completion, document non-conformances honestly, and help find and fix the cause
Own safety and housekeeping in the composite shop, including PPE and respirator discipline, chemical handling and storage, and hazard reporting
Support first article builds and help define what good looks like on parts nobody has made before
Qualification
Strong trimmingCare and keeping of moldsExperience running builds to a schedule
Required
You are an experienced composites technician that is excited by the challenge of establishing new processes, growing a highly capable team, and standing up a manufacturing line. You are well versed in a variety of composites manufacturing methods from either aerospace, marine or advanced automotive industries and can quickly and effectively identify which processes and techniques will yield the best results. You are comfortable providing design for manufacturing feedback to engineers and all technical partners. The ideal person for this role will help write the composites manufacturing playbook, not just follow it.
10+ years of hands-on composite fabrication in aerospace, defense, marine, motorsports, or another high-performance build environment, with at least 2 of those years directing the work of other technicians
A track record of building a hands-on crew: interviewing, onboarding, training, setting the workmanship bar, and holding people to it
Deep personal command of prepreg and wet layup, vacuum bagging, resin infusion, oven and autoclave cure, and secondary bonding
Practical experience with core materials including honeycomb, foam, and syntactic, covering splicing, potting, and core-to-skin bond quality
Strong trimming, drilling, sanding, fairing, and fitting skills, plus the judgment to tell when a surface or edge is genuinely good enough
Experience joining composite detail parts into larger structure: bond prep, adhesive bonding, shimming, and fastener installation
Comfort working alongside metallic detail parts, weldments, and machined fittings, including composite-to-metal joints
Care and keeping of molds, layup tools, and assembly fixtures, including prep, release systems, minor repair, and knowing when a tool is no longer fit to build on
Ability to work directly from engineering drawings, ply books, CAD models, and evolving build definitions
Ability to write and improve work instructions that a new technician can actually follow
Experience running builds to a schedule: sequencing the work, staffing it, flagging risk early, and keeping a crew productive
