Senior Manufacturing Engineer

WindBorne is an atypical hardware company: we sell the data our balloons produce, not the balloons. Our customer is our own operations team, which puts engineering and the field about as close together as they can get. We push design changes to flying hardware roughly once a week while scaling production at the same time.

Today every part of that loop is owned by full-stack engineers who each design a part, own its tooling, and tweak it based on field performance. That has worked so far, but manufacturing throughput and tooling maintenance have grown into a full-time load that can no longer share a desk with design iteration. This role exists to take that load.

Manufacturing and Production turns engineering designs into repeatable, high-quality production. We build mechatronic hardware assemblies — PCBA, electronic sensors, ballast, and an adjustable inflatable balloon.

Boards arrive populated from our suppliers. On our floor, we assemble the PCBAs into the electronics assembly, test it, and then build up the mechanical hardware, ballast, and balloon around it. The work is manual to semi-automated, and it has to hold together while the designs underneath it keep changing.

We are running about 1,000 units a month and doubling roughly every six months. Most hardware teams get design lock before volume. We don't, and the manufacturing system has to work anyway.

Own manufacturing engineering for parts as they come off the design team.

You will take on process, tooling, and production responsibility so design engineers can stay on design and bring-up. You will decide which parts of a design are stable enough to tool up and document, and which need to stay flexible — and you will be able to explain why. Above all, you will design the processes that turn a weekly-changing design into a build that runs the same way every time.

This is a hands-on individual contributor role reporting to the Head of Manufacturing.

Key Outcomes

• Production processes that are designed, documented, and stable enough for the floor to run without the design engineer standing next to them

• DFM feedback delivered early and often, so manufacturability is settled before a design hardens — and design changes that reach the floor without breaking it

• Clean design-to-manufacturing handoffs, including for parts not yet at full design lock, with judgment applied to what gets systematized and what stays flexible

• Functional, end-to-end test fixtures and protocols that catch defects at the electronics assembly stage rather than at final build

• Jigs, fixtures, and assembly aids that raise throughput and repeatability across electronics integration and mechanical assembly

• Equipment and workstations owned from first request through ramp — specification, sourcing, vendor buy-off, installation, and handoff to production

• Station layout, line balance, and capacity modeled ahead of demand, so the floor is ready for the next doubling before it arrives

• A manufacturing backbone built from the ground up — work instructions, revision and change practices, production documentation — extending the lightweight in-house system already in place

• Cycle time and first-pass yield that hold as volume doubles

Core Responsibilities

• Production processes that are designed, documented, and stable enough for the floor to run without the design engineer standing next to them

• DFM feedback delivered early and often, so manufacturability is settled before a design hardens — and design changes that reach the floor without breaking it

• Clean design-to-manufacturing handoffs, including for parts not yet at full design lock, with judgment applied to what gets systematized and what stays flexible

• Functional, end-to-end test fixtures and protocols that catch defects at the electronics assembly stage rather than at final build

• Jigs, fixtures, and assembly aids that raise throughput and repeatability across electronics integration and mechanical assembly

• Equipment and workstations owned from first request through ramp — specification, sourcing, vendor buy-off, installation, and handoff to production

• Station layout, line balance, and capacity modeled ahead of demand, so the floor is ready for the next doubling before it arrives

• A manufacturing backbone built from the ground up — work instructions, revision and change practices, production documentation — extending the lightweight in-house system already in place

• Cycle time and first-pass yield that hold as volume doubles

Skills & Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Mechatronics, or a related engineering field

• 3+ years in manufacturing engineering, with a track record of launching assembly line processes, equipment, and/or new products

• Demonstrated process development experience — processes you designed, documented, and put into production

• Strong DFM fundamentals, applied in direct partnership with design engineering

• Experience taking electromechanical or mechatronic products from prototype into production, including electronics assembly and functional test

• Experience designing functional test fixtures and test protocols

• Proficiency in CAD for fixture, tooling, and workstation design

• Able to work on-site in Redwood Shores

Nice to have

• Have run electronics assembly integration and in-line functional test

• Have worked in high-mix, rapid-iteration environments where the design was still moving

• Know standard process documentation practice — PFMEA, control plans, DOE, SPC

• Are strong on GD&T and tolerance analysis for mechanical parts

• Have specified, sourced, and bought off production equipment with outside vendors

• Have managed suppliers and incoming quality for outsourced parts (3D-printed, laser-cut, PCB/PCBA)

• Have stood up quality, yield, inspection, or documentation systems from scratch

• Have applied Lean or structured continuous improvement to a real line

Benefits

• 401(k)

• Health, dental, and vision insurance 100% covered

• Unlimited PTO

• Equity

• Office food and beverages (minimum 2x catered lunches and dinners a week)

Salary

$120,000 – $200,000 plus equity. We are considering a range of backgrounds and experience levels for this position and adjust our offers accordingly to be competitive with market rates.

Location

1600 Bridge Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA. In person required.

WindBorne Systems is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic. To request an accommodation in the application process, email accommodations@windbornesystems.com.