Senior Specialist - Manufacturing Engineer

Job Title: Senior Specialist, Manufacturing Engineer

Job Code: 46973

Job Location: Waco, TX

Job Schedule: 9/80: Employees work 9 out of every 14 days- totaling 80 hours worked- and have every other Friday off

Job Description:

L3Harris is seeking a Senior Manufacturing Engineer to support the advanced manufacturing operations at our Waco, Texas site. This position will provide technical leadership for complex manufacturing processes, drive continuous improvement, and partner with operations, quality, design engineering, supply chain, and program teams to deliver high-quality products on schedule and within budget.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on manufacturing professional who can translate engineering requirements into robust production processes, solve complex problems, and lead initiatives that improve safety, quality, delivery, and cost performance.

Essential Functions: 

• Evaluate, develop, implement, and optimize manufacturing processes for complex aerospace and defense products.
• Provide technical leadership from design transition through production, sustainment, and process improvement.
• Review engineering drawings, specifications, bills of material, and configuration requirements for manufacturability.
• Create and maintain manufacturing plans, work instructions, routings, tooling requirements, and process documentation.
• Lead root-cause investigations and corrective actions using structured problem-solving methods such as 8D, 5 Whys, and fishbone analysis.
• Support nonconformance resolution, material review activities, and production issue escalation.
• Collaborate with Manufacturing, Operations, Quality, Engineering, Supply Chain, Finance, and Production Planning to implement improvements, resolve cross-functional issues, and ensure compliance with aerospace industry standards, regulations, and site safety protocols.
• Lead Lean Manufacturing and continuous improvement initiatives, including waste reduction, process standardization, cycle-time reduction, and capacity improvement.
• Design, develop, and validate tooling, fixtures, equipment, and production aids.
• Support production readiness reviews, first-article inspections, process qualification, and customer or regulatory audits.
• Analyze process data and performance metrics to identify trends, risks, and improvement opportunities.
• Mentor and provide technical guidance to less-experienced manufacturing engineers.
• Coordinate with suppliers and operations partners to resolve manufacturing and quality issues.
• Ensure compliance with applicable company procedures, quality standards, safety requirements, and export-control regulations.
• Communicate technical status, risks, recommendations, and recovery plans to leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in STEM with a minimum of 6 years of relevant experience or Graduate Degree with a minimum of 4 years of relevant experience
• Experience supporting production in an aerospace, defense, electronics, aircraft, or other highly regulated manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated experience of manufacturing processes, engineering drawings, GD&T, configuration management, and production documentation.
• Demonstrated experience with root-cause analysis, corrective action, and continuous-improvement methods.
• Experience interpreting technical requirements and communicating effectively with engineering, production, quality, and leadership teams.

Preferred Additional Skills:

• Experience in aerospace, defense, electronics, or another high-reliability or regulated manufacturing environment.
• Lean or Six Sigma certification, such as Green Belt and Black Belt.
• Experience with product-line layout, facility or work-cell design, value stream mapping, line balancing, capacity planning, production scheduling, or discrete-event simulation.
• Experience with manufacturing KPIs, labor standards, standard work, ergonomics, and production system design.
• Familiarity with AS9100, ISO 9001, ESD controls, FOD prevention, and other aerospace or defense quality practices.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint; experience with Power BI, Tableau, SQL, Python, Minitab, JMP, FlexSim, Plant Simulation, or CAD is a plus.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled productivity and data-analysis tools, including Claude, Codex, or comparable tools, is also desirable.
• Experience facilitating cross-functional teams, training production personnel, or leading improvement projects.

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