Senior Manufacturing Engineer

ABOUT ROCKET LAB

Rocket Lab is the end-to-end space company building rockets, spacecraft, and critical subsystems that keep the world connected, protected, expand humanity’s reach to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. We move fast, build real hardware for meaningful missions, and make the impossible routine. Come shape the future with us.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Manufacturing Engineering powers Rocket Lab’s factories from concept to full-scale production. We turn early ideas into manufacturable designs, build and optimise the systems that make them real, and constantly push for faster, better, smarter ways to build. We engineer the factories that build the rockets, boosting quality, cutting cost, and accelerating build rate.

We're seeking experienced Senior Manufacturing Engineers across multiple disciplines to take ownership of complex products, lead problem-solving initiatives, and drive manufacturing excellence.

THE OPPORTUNITIES:

We're hiring across four key manufacturing disciplines:

• Assembly & Integration – Mechanical, Assembly, Propulsion, Mechanical Test
• Avionics & Test – Electronics manufacturing, electrical test, debugging systems
• Composites – Advanced materials, resins, ablatives, sandwich structures
• Machining – CNC programming, precision manufacturing, GD&T

In your application, please indicate which discipline(s) align with your experience and interests.

YOU’LL GET TO:

• Own & Ship:

• Own products in production as the go-to expert
• Drive teams to hit production targets at top quality
• Execute product improvements and design qualifications

• Solve & Fix:

• Lead root cause analysis and corrective actions on failures
• Disposition non-conformances on flight hardware using engineering judgment and risk assessment
• Bridge production, quality, supply chain, and design engineering for rapid problem-solving

• Build & Improve:

• Create bulletproof production procedures and processes
• Design reliable assemblies and test fixtures
• Develop mission-critical test methods for safety-critical systems
• Champion Lean/Six Sigma continuous improvement

• Lead & Scale:

• Drive design reviews as DFM/DFT expert
• Launch new products and revisions into production
• Plan and execute capital equipment upgrades with business cases
• Implement planning, quality, ERP, and da