Manufacturing Engineer (Process Engineering)

About the role

This is a production-floor engineering role for someone who likes solving problems at the source. You’ll support manufacturing across MPP's business units, working directly with production teams to troubleshoot defects, understand process variation, evaluate materials, and improve the way products are built. You won't be limited to reviewing drawings or analyzing data from an office—you'll be close to the hardware, the processes, and the people doing the work. Our manufacturing environment uses a wide range of metals, alloys, ceramics, polymers, and other specialized materials, along with processes such as brazing, soldering, welding, coatings, machining, and precision assembly.

When something goes wrong, you'll help answer questions like: What happened? Why did it happen? Is the problem the material, the process, the tooling, the documentation, the equipment, or something else? What should we change—and how do we know the change worked? You'll then work with the broader team to implement and sustain the solution.

Responsibilities

• Provide hands-on engineering support directly on the production floor across MPP's business units
• Troubleshoot manufacturing defects, rejects, process variation, and production issues involving materials, processes, tooling, fixtures, documentation, training, personnel, and mechanical assemblies
• Investigate material and process deficiencies using failure analysis, materials evaluation, metallurgy, chemical analysis techniques, process controls, process mapping, and other appropriate engineering methods
• Support specialized manufacturing processes including brazing, soldering, welding, coatings, machining, and related joining and finishing processes
• Evaluate metals, alloys, ceramics, polymers, and other materials used in manufacturing and help determine how material characteristics affect process performance
• Identify root causes and implement practical corrective actions that improve quality, yield, reliability, and process consistency
• Improve and advance manufacturing processes through process characterization, standardization, and continuous improvement
• Support tooling and fixture development, troubleshooting, and improvement for mechanical assemblies and production processes
• Develop, update, and improve manufacturing procedures, work instructions, drawings, specifications, and process documentation
• Support operator training, process qualification, and certification activities
• Conduct or support process audits and follow up on identified deficiencies
• Work with Quality to investigate nonconformances, disposition rejects, and implement corrective actions
• Partner with Product Engineering to resolve product/process issues and improve manufacturability
• Lead or contribute to productivity, yield, quality, and process improvement projects
• Collaborate with Purchasing and suppliers to resolve material, component, and process issues
• Use data and engineering judgment to identify recurring problems and opportunities for improvement
• Manage assigned projects from problem definition through implementation, validation, and follow-up
• Support other related manufacturing engineering activities as assigned

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Materials, Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, or a related field
• Approximately 3 years of relevant engineering or manufacturing experience
• Hands-on experience working in a production or manufacturing environment
• Experience with manufacturing processes, process documentation, assembly, or process improvement
• Experience performing root cause analysis or troubleshooting manufacturing defects and implementing corrective actions
• Working knowledge of metals, alloys, ceramics, polymers, or other engineering materials
• Experience or exposure to brazing, soldering, welding, coatings, machining, or other specialized manufacturing processes
• Experience evaluating process variation, yield, rejects, or manufacturing performance
• Familiarity with mechanical assemblies, tooling, fixtures, or production equipment
• Ability to translate an ambiguous production problem into a structured investigation and practical solution
• Strong project management skills and the ability to independently organize and drive assigned work
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to create clear technical documentation
• Comfortable working directly with operators, technicians, engineers, Quality, suppliers, and other cross-functional partners
• Hands-on, mechanically inclined, curious, and willing to learn unfamiliar processes

Skills

The ideal candidate needs to know how to learn a manufacturing process, understand why it works, recognize when it isn't working, and methodically figure out how to make it better.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Generous 401(k) match
• Commuter benefits within the Stanford Research Park
• Complimentary EV charging
• Paid time off and holidays
• Training and opportunities for skill development and growth

Pay

$80K–$110K depending on experience and leveling.

Schedule

On-site 5 days per week in Palo Alto, CA.

Why engineers choose MPP

• Work on rare and highly specialized manufacturing challenges involving advanced materials and precision processes
• Stay close to the hardware and production rather than working exclusively behind a desk
• Build expertise across materials, joining, coatings, machining, assembly, and process engineering
• Work on problems where engineering judgment directly affects quality, yield, productivity, and product performance
• Partner closely with Manufacturing, Product Engineering, Quality, and Supply Chain
• Develop broad manufacturing expertise while gaining depth in specialized processes
• Stability and investment backed by a global aerospace organization, without losing site-level agility