ABOUT US

Astro Mechanica is a vertically integrated aerospace company developing a scalable technology platform to power critical infrastructure, mission operations, and the future of flight. We apply aerospace engineering and quality standards across our products, delivering high performance, reliability, and efficiency for the most demanding operating environments. Astro Mechanica is backed by leading venture and strategic investors, including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Giant Step Capital, United Airlines Ventures, and Voyager Ventures.

WHO WE ARE

We’re a team of passionate engineers dedicated to advancing aerospace. We’re generalists with specialist depth, united by a flat structure and a shared obsession with building things that work well. We move fast, stay pragmatic, and let engineering excellence speak louder than hierarchy.

WHO YOU ARE

You are an experienced composites technician that is excited by the challenge of establishing new processes, growing a highly capable team, and standing up a manufacturing line. You are well versed in a variety of composites manufacturing methods from either aerospace, marine or advanced automotive industries and can quickly and effectively identify which processes and techniques will yield the best results. You are comfortable providing design for manufacturing feedback to engineers and all technical partners. The ideal person for this role will help write the composites manufacturing playbook, not just follow it.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

Lead Astro Mechanica's composite technicians day to day on the floor, setting the standard for workmanship and holding the team to it

Help build the team: interview candidates, onboard and train new technicians, develop a skills matrix, and grow people into harder work

Help stand up Astro Mechanica's airframe manufacturing operation from scratch, including facilities, workflows, tooling concepts, equipment and consumables needs, with a focus on both rapid implementation and future scalability

Run the daily build: sequence the work, assign the crew, track progress against milestones, and raise blockers before they cost schedule

Perform and supervise layup, bagging, infusion, cure, bonding, trimming, drilling, and assembly of airframe structure

Own the condition of molds, layup tools, and assembly fixtures in the shop, and coordinate repair or replacement with the tool design team

Work shoulder to shoulder with the Airframe Manufacturing Engineers and Airframe Design Engineers to turn build plans into process that actually runs on the floor

Feed engineering real build data: what is slow, what is fragile, and what the drawing does not account for

Establish and improve shop practice around material handling, out-time control, kitting, cleanliness, consumables, and cure records

Check your team's work in process and at completion, document non-conformances honestly, and help find and fix the cause

Own safety and housekeeping in the composite shop, including PPE and respirator discipline, chemical handling and storage, and hazard reporting

Support first article builds and help define what good looks like on parts nobody has made before

Train the team as new processes and materials come in, and write the documentation that makes those processes repeatable

Help scale the shop as build rate grows, with a view on headcount, equipment, and floor layout

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

10+ years of hands-on composite fabrication in aerospace, defense, marine, motorsports, or another high-performance build environment, with at least 2 of those years directing the work of other technicians

A track record of building a hands-on crew: interviewing, onboarding, training, setting the workmanship bar, and holding people to it

Deep personal command of prepreg and wet layup, vacuum bagging, resin infusion, oven and autoclave cure, and secondary bonding

Practical experience with core materials including honeycomb, foam, and syntactic, covering splicing, potting, and core-to-skin bond quality

Strong trimming, drilling, sanding, fairing, and fitting skills, plus the judgment to tell when a surface or edge is genuinely good enough