Manufacturing Engineer - Machine Production
About the job
- At least 5 years of Manufacturing or Operations Engineering experience in production environments, preferably in advanced manufacturing, robotics, aerospace, defense, or automotive industries involving complex assemblies.
- Experience supporting low- to mid-volume production environments, including stabilizing processes, scaling operations, and managing engineering changes such as Engineering Change Orders and process improvements.
- Experience managing Bill of Materials structures, including converting Engineering Bills of Materials into Manufacturing Bills of Materials for efficient manufacturing workflows.
- Proficiency designing production fixtures, jigs, and tooling using 3D computer-aided design software such as SolidWorks, NX, or similar platforms, including simulations and Finite Element Analysis.
- Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, equipment design, and process engineering principles, including Lean Manufacturing and 5S methodologies.
- Experience developing work instructions, routings, assembly procedures, and process documentation.
- Familiarity with Enterprise Resource Planning and Manufacturing Resource Planning systems for production planning, work order management, scheduling, and material tracking.
- Proficiency with 2D and 3D computer-aided design for system layouts, schematics, and integrated mechanical system design.
- Ability to communicate and collaborate across engineering, production, and leadership teams.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite.
- Support the scaling and development of RoboCraftsman forming cells, including optimizing assembly processes as production transitions from low-volume builds to higher-volume manufacturing.
- Manage Bills of Materials by converting Engineering Bills of Materials into Manufacturing Bills of Materials structured for efficient material flow, routing, and assembly operations.
- Design and develop jigs, fixtures, and tooling to support assembly, handling, and lifting operations; perform simulations and Finite Element Analysis to validate designs and ensure performance and reliability.
- Develop detailed work instructions, assembly procedures, method sheets, and in-process documentation to ensure repeatability, quality, and process consistency.
- Support production planning activities including job planning, routing development, and scheduling; utilize Enterprise Resource Planning and Manufacturing Resource Planning systems to manage work orders and coordinate production activities.
- Partner with facilities and production leadership to support facility build-out and production cell optimization, applying Lean Manufacturing and 5S principles to improve workflow, reduce waste, and increase throughput.
- Estimate manufacturing costs, develop time standards, and recommend tooling or equipment requirements for new or evolving product lines.
- Collaborate with engineering teams to evaluate designs for manufacturability and support engineering changes including Engineering Change Orders, Engineering Change Requests, first article inspections, and process improvements.
- Work directly with production teams to troubleshoot technical issues, resolve bottlenecks, and improve process reliability in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
- Maintain accurate manufacturing documentation, reporting systems, and operational records to support production and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Experience working with robotic or automated manufacturing cells, incremental sheet forming, or similar advanced manufacturing technologies.
- Background in high-precision, low-volume production environments supporting mission-critical applications such as aerospace or defense structures.
- Demonstrated focus on process repeatability, operational efficiency, and translating design intent into scalable manufacturing solutions.
About the company
Machina Labs develops integrated manufacturing systems that combine robotics and AI to speed up design, prototyping, and production. Their systems automate the shaping, assembly, and testing of sheet metal and other parts using AI-driven optimization and digital tooling. These capabilities are tailored for aerospace, defense, OEMs, heavy equipment, energy, marine, construction, and consumer products, with a focus on large-format parts and fast, end-to-end fabrication for government and industrial customers. The goal is to shorten design-to-production cycles while improving quality and reliability for next-generation equipment.
Company Size
51-200
Company Stage
Series C
Total Funding
$173.1M
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California
Founded
2019
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- February 4, 2026 Series C raised $124 million for a 200,000-square-foot factory.
- July 15, 2026 Lockheed qualification converts Machina from pilot vendor toward production supplier.
- September 2026 reporting shows headcount around 98 and continued hiring, signaling active scaling.
What critics are saying
- RoboCraftsman remains slower than stamping; volume manufacturing still trails traditional lines in 2026.
- Machina Factory 3 must execute flawlessly or the $124 million expansion burns cash.
- Defense concentration creates existential exposure if JASSM qualification slips or Pentagon procurement priorities change.
What makes Machina Labs unique
- RoboCraftsman replaces dies with software-defined robotic forming, compressing months of tooling into days.
- Machina’s defense-qualified assemblies reached Lockheed Martin JASSM qualification on July 15, 2026.
- Toyota, Lockheed Martin, NASA, and Woven Capital validate cross-market relevance and customer trust.
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Benefits
Flexible Work Hours
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
-1%1 year growth
-2%2 year growth
-3%Machina Labs, founded by former SpaceX engineer Ed Mayor, has developed the Robocraftsman, a manufacturing system using two robotic arms and software to shape metal parts on demand. The technology addresses a critical challenge in American manufacturing: the high cost and long lead times of traditional tooling, which can require hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars for specialised industrial moulds. The system can produce components for diverse applications, from drones to aircraft panels, by using software rather than physical dies. Whilst Machina Labs aims to produce 50 Robocraftsmen annually to build entire factory floors, current production stands at approximately five units per year. The Los Angeles-based startup has attracted backing from major partners including Toyota and Lockheed Martin.
Ed Mehr, a former SpaceX engineer, founded Machina Labs to address a critical manufacturing bottleneck: replacement parts for US Air Force cargo planes that can take four years to produce. His solution uses robotic arms to shape sheet metal in weeks, eliminating the need for expensive custom dies that can cost up to $1 million each. The LA-based startup has attracted contracts from the US Air Force, NASA, and Lockheed Martin. Defence supply chains face significant pressure, with 87% of programmes citing supply-chain issues as scaling bottlenecks. Machina's system uses two robotic arms that mould metal like clay, guided by real-time feedback software. Each robotic cell costs roughly $1 million, significantly less than traditional stamping lines. The company prioritises flexibility over volume, betting that modern manufacturing and defence needs require adaptable production rather than high-volume output.
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Pentagon missile buildup changing the factory floor. Startups are bringing software, robotics and manufacturing methods developed around commercial space into a defense industry under pressure to produce weapons faster HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The Pentagon's push to replenish missile inventories is creating an opening for a new class of manufacturers that say the problem isn't simply a shortage of factory space. It is how those factories are built. Startups such as Machina, Hadrian and Freeform are applying software, robotics and highly automated production techniques to aerospace and defense manufacturing, challenging a model that has long relied on dedicated machinery, specialized tooling and skilled labor to make relatively small numbers of complex parts. Some of the new manufacturing technology grew out of the commercial space industry. At this year's Space and Missile Defense Symposium, Los Angeles-based Machina is displaying a 16-foot fuselage for a hypersonic vehicle that it manufactured for Ursa Major, a company that is expanding from rocket propulsion into complete hypersonic missile systems. Machina co-founder and chief executive Edward Mehr, who previously worked at SpaceX and Relativity Space, says the hardware is an example of how AI can be applied not to designing weapons, but to controlling the machines that manufacture them. "Missile programs are not constrained by design. They are constrained by production," Mehr told SpaceNews. Machina recently received a qualification contract from Lockheed Martin supporting the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, or JASSM, a long-range cruise missile built for the Air Force. The agreement is significant for Machina because it puts an assembly made with the company's manufacturing process through qualification for an operational missile program. Lockheed is also an investor in Machina through Lockheed Martin Ventures. Mehr said manufacturing fuselage structures for hypersonic missiles has become "a big area of growth for us." Machina's manufacturing platform, called RoboCraftsman, uses robotic arms to progressively shape sheets of metal into aerospace structures. The company uses artificial intelligence to give robotic equipment more autonomy over how it performs a physical task. "Our use of AI and robotics allows us to build flexible manufacturing systems that can switch between processes and geometries while reducing the need for dedicated tooling," Mehr said. Mehr said traditional programs can require tens of millions of dollars in dedicated equipment and long setup periods before the first production hardware is available for testing. Machina's argument is that a programmable factory can compress that transition because much of the change resides in software rather than in a new set of dies and machinery. Equipment previously producing automotive hardware, for example, could be reprogrammed to begin making a missile structure after receiving the digital design, he said. "Under the traditional model, a significant design change or a new missile component can require another investment in tooling, equipment and production setup," Mehr said. "With our system, much of that change can happen through software rather than by building another dedicated manufacturing line." Machina is looking to demonstrate that its approach can consistently meet the tolerances, quality requirements and production rates demanded by major weapons programs. The company is preparing to scale. Machina raised $124 million earlier this year to help finance a new 200,000-square-foot U.S. factory intended to move the technology from lower-volume work into larger production runs. Its customers also include NASA and Toyota.
Machina Labs, a leader in advanced manufacturing and robotics, today announced it has closed a Series C financing totaling $124 million and the development o...