Senior Manufacturing Engineer - Machining

About Castelion

Castelion is bringing a new approach to defense development and production: one that focuses on short, iterative design cycles, rapid testing in development, and modern commercial manufacturing strategies for production at scale. We're designing, building, and testing next generation long range strike weapons systems to give America and its Allies a definitive edge and deter future conflicts.

Senior Manufacturing Engineer - Machining

A a Senior Manufacturing Engineer - Machining, you will lead the rapid expansion of Castelion's in-house machining capabilities, enabling our mission to fly early and often. This role is critical to our ability to quickly iterate, test, and deliver hardware. 

You'll be responsible for standing up infrastructure, processes, and tools that accelerate prototype part delivery - minimizing the time from design release to parts in hand. Beyond rapid prototyping, you'll also define best practices for design for manufacturability (DFM) of machined components and contribute to the long-term machining strategy for both prototyping and production environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Machine Shop Setup & Implementation 
  Drive the build-out of Castelion's in-house machine shop, including equipment selection, layout, tooling, and workflow design.
• Rapid Prototyping Support
  Partner with design and manufacturing teams to enable fast-turn machining of prototype components. Implement the processes, software, and tools needed to dramatically reduce lead times and support frequent iteration.
• Strategic Planning & Long-Term Vision 
  Define the long-term strategy for machining at Castelion - including make vs. buy decisions, technology roadmaps, workforce development, and capability scaling to support production.
• Machining Best Practices & DFM
  Establish and champion best practices for machined part design and manufacturability. Collaborate with engineering teams to ensure early design alignment with internal machining capabilities.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related field. 
• 7+ years of experience in precision machining, with expertise in CNC programming, tooling, and process development. 
• Proven experience setting up or managing an internal machine shop (ideally for prototyping or low-volume production). 
• Strong knowledge of machining for metals, plastics, and advanced materials. 
• Proficiency with CAM software (NX, Mastercam, Fusion 360, or equivalent). 
• Strong project management skills and ability to lead cross-functional efforts.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with high-volume or production machining environments.
• Familiarity with machining automation (robotic loading, pallet changers, etc.).
  
• Experience writing software or scripts (e.g., Python, SQL) to automate workflows or improve operational efficiency.
  

Leadership Qualities

• Bias to Action and Creative Problem Solving. Desire and experience questioning assumptions in ways that lead to break through ideas that are ultimately implemented. Successfully bring in applicable processes/concepts/materials from other industries to achieve efficiency gains. Ability to personally resolve minor issues in development without requiring significant support.
• High Commitment, High Initiative. A successful candidate will have a genuine passion for Castelion's mission and consistently look for ways to contribute to the company's technical goals and prevent hardware blockers. Ability to work in a fast paced, autonomously driven, and demanding atmosphere. Strong sense of accountability and integrity.
• Clear Communicator. Proactively communicates blockers. Trusted in previous roles to be voice of company with regulators, suppliers, gate keepers and customers. Capable of tactfully managing relationships with stakeholders to achieve company-desired outcomes without compromising relationships. Emails, IMs and verbal interactions are logical, drive clarity, and detailed enough to eliminate ambiguity.

ITAR Requirements

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Employment with Castelion is governed on the basis of competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

All employees are granted long-term stock incentives as part of their employment at Castelion. All employees receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance, and the company offers four weeks of paid time off per year.