Staff Mechanical Product Engineer (Production)

About the Role
The Staff Product Engineer serves as the primary design engineering presence on the production floor, bridging the gap between design intent and production execution. Embedded within the Global Head of Production organization with a dotted-line relationship to Platform and Payload Engineering Teams, this role owns the day-to-day engineering interface between design engineering teams and manufacturing operations across multiple production sites.
This is a senior individual contributor role requiring deep technical judgement, the ability to operate autonomously in a fast-paced production environment, and the credibility to influence both design engineers and production leadership. The Staff Product Engineer is expected to drive systemic improvements — not just resolve individual issues — and to develop process and tooling solutions that scale across product versions, variations, and manufacturing sites.


Key Responsibilities

Production Floor Engineering Support

• Serve as the primary design engineering point of contact on the production floor for assigned programs and product lines
• Triage and disposition Material Review Board (MRB) actions day-to-day; participate in MRB meetings and drive resolution timelines to minimize production hold time
• Resolve production process-blockers, design ambiguities, and drawing interpretation issues in real time, exercising engineering judgement within defined authority boundaries
• Provide rapid-response engineering support to Production, Quality, and Test teams for nonconformance resolution, use-as-is/rework/scrap decisions, and repair dispositions
• Identify and escalate systemic design issues to core Design Engineering teams with clear problem statements, data, and recommended corrective actions
• Perform and review mechanical design analyses — including structural stress, fatigue life, thermal, and tolerance stackup calculations — to support MRB dispositions, deviation requests, and use-as-is justifications
• Utilize 3D CAD tools (e.g., SolidWorks, NX, or CATIA) to evaluate proposed rework paths, model design modifications, and generate or revise engineering drawings as needed to support production
• Apply knowledge of materials and manufacturing processes — including metals, composites, adhesive bonding, welding, brazing, and surface treatments — to assess nonconformances and recommend technically sound repair or rework methods

Design Intent Translation & Multi-Site Support

• Bridge the translation of design intent into production-executable work across multiple product versions, configurations, and manufacturing sites
• Develop and maintain Standard Repair Manuals and engineering disposition guides that give Production autonomy to resolve high-frequency, low-complexity MRB items without engineering hold
• Support the stand-up and ramp of production at new or expanding manufacturing sites, ensuring design engineering knowledge transfers effectively
• Collaborate with Manufacturing Engineering on work instruction development, tooling validation, and First Article Inspection (FAI) activities
• Flow production observations, failure mode data, and process improvement opportunities back to Design Engineering through structured feedback mechanisms
• Leverage mechanical modeling and simulation capabilities to rapidly evaluate design change proposals, ensuring form-fit-function integrity before releasing changes to the production floor
• Apply materials engineering knowledge to assess the suitability of alternate materials or processes during supply chain disruptions, ensuring equivalent mechanical performance and environmental compatibility for maritime applications

Process & Tooling Improvement

• Identify and drive process/tool-based solutions to reduce manual translation of engineering intent into production across product variants and sites
• Evaluate and improve key tool and functional interfaces (PLM workflows, digital work instructions, BOM reconciliation) that impact design-to-production efficiency
• Develop scalable frameworks for multi-site production: configuration management alignment, site-specific work instruction adaptation, and cross-site lesson-learned sharing
• Build repeatable playbooks for standing up production of new product variants, reducing ramp time and first-unit defects at each additional site

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Metrics

• Maintain strong working relationships with Quality, Supply Chain, Manufacturing Engineering, and Program Management to ensure aligned priorities and rapid issue resolution
• Track and report key metrics: MRB disposition cycle time, repeat-discrepancy rate, first-pass yield trends, and engineering response SLA adherence
• Collate and drive corrective actions on design-originated production issues, providing data-backed prioritization to core Design Engineering teams
• Participate in Production readiness reviews, design reviews (DFM/DFA/DFT), and engineering change assessments as the production voice

Key Competencies & Attributes

• Engineering Judgement: Technical depth combined with production pragmatism — able to make sound engineering decisions under time pressure without over-engineering solutions
• Cross-Functional Influence: Credibility with both design engineers and production operators; able to speak both languages and bridge communication gaps
• Mechanical Design Acumen: Broad mechanical engineering foundation spanning 3D CAD modeling, structural and thermal analysis, materials selection, and manufacturing process knowledge — able to apply design engineering skills directly to solve production problems rather than relying solely on escalation to design teams
• Autonomy & Initiative: Comfort with ambiguity and competing priorities in a fast-moving production environment; able to self-direct and prioritize without constant direction
• Systems Thinking: Thinks beyond individual issue resolution to identify patterns, root causes, and scalable solutions that prevent recurrence across sites and variants
• Communication: Clear, concise technical communication — written dispositions, engineering reports, and presentations to leadership

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related engineering discipline
• 10+ years of engineering experience in a manufacturing or production environment
• Demonstrated experience working on or directly supporting a production floor in a hands-on engineering capacity
• Strong understanding of MRB processes, nonconformance management, and engineering disposition (use-as-is, rework, scrap, return to vendor)
• Experience with AS9100 / ISO 9001 quality management systems and associated production quality processes
• Familiarity with GD&T, engineering drawings, specifications, and the ability to interpret design intent for production personnel
• Experience supporting multi-site manufacturing operations or production transfers between facilities
• Working knowledge of configuration management, engineering change order (ECO) processes, and product lifecycle management (PLM) tools
• Ability to obtain an Austrailian Security Clearance

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience should span mechanical design engineering and production/manufacturing engineering roles
• 4 years in aerospace and/or defense
• Experience with NX, FEMAP and Teamcenter or similar CAD, FEA and PLM systems.
• Experience with the design, analysis, testing, implementation and support of mechanical parts and assemblies.
• Experience with welding, machining, sheet metal, injection molding, composites and/or additive manufacturing.
• Experience with drawings, GD&T (AS1100, ASME Y14.5), tolerance stack-up analysis
• Experience in the maritime domain (sealing, pressure vessels, corrosion and material compatibility, pressure testing).
• Prior experience as a Liaison Engineer, Sustaining Engineer, Product Engineer, or Production Support Engineer in an aerospace or defense environment
• Experience developing Standard Repair Manuals, engineering disposition guides, or similar production-autonomy documentation
• Familiarity with Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or similar continuous improvement methodologies applied in a production setting
• Track record of driving process improvements that resulted in measurable cycle time reduction or yield improvement
• Experience with digital work instruction platforms, MES systems, or PLM-to-shop-floor integration tooling