Senior Manufacturing Engineer

The Senior Manufacturing Engineer establishes and owns Coastal Machine's manufacturing engineering function. The role exists to bring formal process engineering discipline to work that has historically been handled informally across cell leads, programmers, and the Director of Manufacturing. It owns how Coastal manufactures — process standards, fixturing strategy, new-part introduction, and process capability across complex turning and 5-axis milling for Defense, Space, and Oil & Gas work.

This is a control and ownership role, not a support role. The Senior Manufacturing Engineer sets manufacturing process standards and holds authority to stop or hold non-conforming processes; where a standard is contested, the Director of Manufacturing is the escalation backstop. The distinction from the cell leads and programmers is deliberate: those roles execute and optimize within their cells, while this role sets the standards that span cells and defines the engineering approach the floor is held to.

Success is measured by whether Coastal's manufacturing becomes more capable, repeatable, and predictable — not by throughput on any single job.

• Owns Coastal's manufacturing process standards across complex turning and 5-axis milling, developed in collaboration with cell leads and programmers but set and maintained by this role.
• Holds authority to stop or hold non-conforming or out-of-standard processes; escalates unresolved compliance to the Director of Manufacturing.
• Establishes the documented engineering methodology that new-part introduction, fixturing, and programming are held to.

• Owns the manufacturing process for new and complex parts from print to proven production — routing, sequencing, method, and validation.
• Ensures each new part reaches production with a repeatable, capable process rather than a one-off solution dependent on a single operator.

• Owns the shop's approach to fixturing and work holding, moving it from cell-by-cell improvisation to a coherent, reusable strategy.
• Ensures work holding decisions support accuracy, repeatability, and setup reduction across part families.

• Owns CAM methodology and programming standards — post-processors, toolpath strategy, naming and revision discipline — so programming is consistent and transferable across programmers rather than personal to each.
• Partners with programmers to raise the floor of the whole function, not to take programming off their plates.
• Owns tooling selection standards and the tool library, driving toward standardization that reduces cost, inventory sprawl, and setup variability.

• Owns manufacturing's role in first-article and process capability, ensuring processes demonstrably meet drawing and customer requirements before and during production.
• Aligns manufacturing datum strategy, fixturing, and process approach with Quality/CMM programming so the manufacturing process and inspection process reconcile by design rather than conflict at first article.
• Coordinates with Quality on capability evidence and corrective action where processes drift.
• Leads the engineering analysis and business case for capital equipment — capability, capacity, and cycle-time justification — feeding the investment decision made with the Director of Manufacturing and CEO. Owns the analysis, not the authorization.
• As standards mature, drives cycle-time and cost-reduction programs built on the documented processes established above.

• Pro Shop ERP / QMS
• Mastercam (CAM)
• Datanomix (machine monitoring / production analytics)
• Current AS9100 revision; customer and industry standards as applicable (e.g., AS9102 first article)

• Demonstrated ownership of manufacturing processes for complex 5-axis milling and multi-axis turning, from print to proven production (typically 7+ years of manufacturing engineering experience, including tight-tolerance work).
• Hands-on CAM proficiency (Mastercam or directly comparable).
• Experience establishing or standardizing…