Senior Industrial Engineer

Overview

Draper is an independent, nonprofit research and development company headquartered in Cambridge, MA. The 2,000+ employees of Draper tackle important national challenges with a promise of delivering successful and usable solutions. From military defense and space exploration to biomedical engineering, lives often depend on the solutions we provide. Our multidisciplinary teams of engineers and scientists work in a collaborative environment that inspires the cross‑fertilization of ideas necessary for true innovation.

We are seeking a senior level Industrial Engineer to support and evolve production operations. This role applies Industrial Engineering principles, modern analytics tools, and cross‑functional collaboration to reduce waste, improve efficiency, and guide manufacturing decisions for complex systems. The ideal candidate will demonstrate holistic ownership in solving operational challenges with creative solutions in a fast‑paced, resource‑limited environment, and will provide support to ensure products are built and shipped to stringent quality standards.

• Support Manufacturing Engineers with standards development and performance analysis.
• Build discrete‑event simulations to analyze future production strategies, identify constraints, and optimize workflows.
• Partner with facilities engineering to plan new production lines and factory layouts.
• Produce and maintain capacity models and production ramp plans to define labor planning, capex requirements, workstation design, and throughput gaps.
• Design effective facility layouts and production lines using CAD and simulation to meet process requirements, enable production targets, optimize resource allocation and material flow, and maximize productivity and quality.
• Identify and champion improvements to key causes of high variability or production bottlenecks, driving actions to resolution across disciplines and stakeholders.
• Lead the design of production lines and workstations for both low‑rate and full‑rate production using techniques like Value Stream Mapping and Line Balancing.

• 5–8 years Industrial Engineering experience in a production or manufacturing environment.
• Experience with Standard Time Data analysis (or strong understanding).
• Practical project management experience.
• Background with MS Project, Visual Basic, or similar engineering tools.
• Experience developing, monitoring, or reporting cost and schedule performance metrics.
• Ability to work in a fast‑paced environment, adapting to changing priorities and working effectively in a dynamic environment.
• Ability to collaborate and communicate effectively and openly with multi‑disciplinary program team members, program leadership, and non‑technical personnel.
• Prior work designing and/or setting up new production lines or factories, from process mapping through to collaborating with infrastructure design partners and detailed workstation design.
• Experience launching or scaling new production lines or factories.
• Leadership experience, including team guidance or conflict resolution.
• Experience developing and executing production ramp‑up plans.
• Experience in production operations and new product integration.
• Advanced MS Excel.

Requires a Bachelor’s degree or higher in industrial engineering or a related field (or equivalent experience).

Applicants selected for this position will be required to obtain and maintain a government security clearance.

City:
Cambridge
State:
Massachusetts
Postal Code: 02139‑3563

The US base salary range for this full‑time position is $62,500.00 – $. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job‑related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Union ranges will be in compliance with the collective bargaining agreement’s approved rates by location and role.

Pay will be discussed by recruiters during the hiring process.

Draper supports many programs to improve work‑life balance, including workplace flexibility, employee clubs ranging from photography to yoga, health and finance workshops, off‑site social events, and discounts to local museums and cultural activities.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information. Draper is committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. To request reasonable accommodation, please contact