Development CNC Machinist

Astra’s mission is to improve life on Earth from space by creating a healthier and more connected planet. Today, Astra offers one of the lowest cost-per-launch dedicated orbital launch services, and one of the industry’s leading flight-proven electric propulsion systems for satellites, the Astra Spacecraft Engine.

The Machine Shop Team is a highly skilled group of machinists and fabricators that bring our company's designs to life. The team is responsible for taking raw materials to finished form, while observing dimensional requirements and schedule constraints. The goal is always to produce finished parts that are of higher quality, lower cost, and to make them faster than any other shop!

As a Development CNC Machinist, your focus is on programming, setting up, and operating CNC lathes and mills, in addition to manual machining, part inspections, and related duties. This position requires prior experience using CAM software such as Siemens NX to program parts of varying complexity. Your experience selecting and setting up tools and work holding is put the the test on a daily basis, as a wide variety of part styles require turning and/or milling operations.

A high level of comfort running a 3‑axis vertical CNC mill or 2‑axis CNC lathe is a must. Strong communication, attention to detail, and willingness to jump into action on any part type are your strong suits. Your priority, along with the rest of the shop team, is to produce finished parts faster, cheaper, and at higher quality than our vendors.

This is a strong individual contributor role that will report directly to the Shop Manager.

• Interpret dimensioned part drawings with fluency in order to ensure that the correct machine tools, work holding, and inspection equipment are selected.
• Program and operate CNC machines. This requires taking a part from start to finish, and includes programming in CAM software (such as NX), calculating feeds and speeds, setting up cutting tools and work holding, proofing programs, loading parts, and breaking down setups when finished.
• Operate manual metal‑cutting machinery such as knee mills, engine and tool room lathes, drill presses, tapping machines, surface grinders, and saws as necessary.
• Inspect finished or in‑process parts using a variety of handheld inspections tools including calipers, micrometers, and hard gauges. Inspections may be done in cooperation with our QC lab.
• Communicate with other shop, quality control, and engineering personnel in pursuit of a transparent and cooperative atmosphere.
• Improve shop effectiveness by identifying bottlenecks and recurring issues and offering potential solutions.

• 5+ years experience as a CNC machinist have prepared you for this fast‑paced shop atmosphere
• Can program, set up, and operate CNC mills using CAM software such as Siemens NX, Mastercam, etc.
• Have direct machining experience on manual equipment such as a knee mill, manual lathe, or drill press
• Calculate feeds and speeds and can solve geometry problems
• Understand the differences between different types of materials, their grades, their relative machineability, and can identify them quickly
• Proficient in thread cutting and can identify and inspect threads easily
• Proficient with measuring instruments including calipers, micrometers, hard gauges, and height gauges
• Read shop drawings with fluency and understand GD&T
• Lift 40+lbs, push heavy carts or crates, and can stretch, reach, kneel, or crawl as may be required by certain tasks
• Monitor machinery in order to identify necessary maintenance or safety issues
• Maintain a clean work area, and can perform your own preventative maintenance
• Use Excel, Word, and email, and are otherwise comfortable using a computer for information retrieval and storage
• Comfortable talking with engineering, managers, and colleagues to exchange technical information.
• Energetic individual with excellent communication (written and oral)

• Experience in a high‑mix, fast paced job shop
• Experience writing or editing posts
• Experience in fabrication, including welding, sheet metal, waterjet, assembly, or finish work
• Trained in an…