What are the responsibilities and job description for the Manufacturing Industrialization Engineer (Lean, NPI & CI) position at Powerus Autonomous Systems?
A day in this role
You start your morning on the factory floor, scanning yesterday’s KPIs and trend charts to spot variances. A short stand-up with production, quality, maintenance, and supply chain follows—aligning on priorities. Before lunch, you refine a work instruction, update a control plan, and lead a fast 8D root-cause session that eliminates a recurring defect. The afternoon turns to new product launch prep: shaping process flow diagrams, confirming tooling and fixture needs, and running a DFM touchpoint with design engineering. You close the day by reviewing a capital request for an automation cell and mapping the next kaizen to reduce changeover time.
About Powerus
Powerus is building a next-generation American autonomous systems platform to move, protect, and sustain critical assets in high-consequence environments. We pair advanced autonomy with deep manufacturing and operational expertise to support defense, national security, critical infrastructure, and commercial missions worldwide.
Our mission
Deliver resilient autonomous technologies that strengthen national security, elevate operational safety, and expand what organizations can achieve in complex settings.
Why join now
We’re scaling fast across multiple entities, production lines, and federal engagements. Robust processes, clean execution, and scalable operations are vital—and you’ll help build that backbone while owning meaningful day-to-day manufacturing engineering work.
What you’ll own
Process development & improvement
- Design, pilot, and stabilize manufacturing processes for productivity, quality, safety, and cost.
- Use value stream analysis to remove waste and increase throughput.
- Create and sustain standard work, process documentation, and manufacturing specifications.
- Lead corrective actions using 8D, 5 Whys, and fishbone methods to address process and quality issues.
- Track performance with data, SPC, and KPI dashboards to drive action.
- Deploy Lean and Six Sigma practices to enable continuous improvement.
Production support
- Provide daily engineering coverage for the floor; quickly troubleshoot process and equipment issues.
- Partner with maintenance to improve reliability and OEE.
- Assess and recommend capital equipment and process upgrades.
- Enable ramp-ups, capacity increases, and workflow optimization.
New product introduction (NPI)
- Industrialize new products by developing manufacturable processes and confirming production readiness.
- Produce process maps, work instructions, tooling/fixture requirements, and control plans.
- Collaborate with design on DFM to reduce cost and complexity.
- Participate in DFM reviews and pilot builds.
Quality & compliance
- Work with Quality to boost capability and first-pass yield.
- Support CAPA initiatives and lead process validations and capability studies.
- Ensure alignment to safety, environmental, and regulatory standards; assist during internal/external audits.
Project management
- Own CI and capital projects from concept through implementation.
- Build timelines, budgets, and resource plans; report progress to leadership.
- Contribute to facility expansion, automation, and modernization efforts.
What you bring
Education
- Bachelor’s in Manufacturing, Mechanical, Industrial Engineering, or a closely related technical field.
Experience
- 3 to 7 years in manufacturing or process engineering within a production environment.
- Hands-on experience with NPI and scaling to higher volumes.
- Proven application of lean and continuous improvement on the shop floor.
Core skills
- Lean/Six Sigma toolset; creation of processes and standard work.
- Structured problem solving (8D, 5 Whys, fishbone), PFMEA, and control plan development.
- Design for Manufacturability and definition of tooling/fixture needs.
- SPC and data-driven analysis for process control and improvement.
- ERP and CAD proficiency; advanced Microsoft Excel.
Preferred
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt.
- Background with automation, robotics, or modernization projects.
- Experience in aerospace, automotive, or industrial manufacturing.
- Familiarity with ISO 9001, IATF 16949, AS9100, or other regulated systems.
Practices you live by
- Kaizen
- Lean manufacturing principles
- Single-piece flow
Tools you’ll use
- NetSuite (ERP), CAD tools, and advanced Excel