Manufacturing Engineer II - Vehicle Integration

About the Role As a Manufacturing Engineer II – Vehicle Integration, you will enable Rocket Lab’s production teams to achieve required production rates with the highest quality. You will take ownership of products released to production, remove blockers, disposition non‑conformance tickets, perform root‑cause analysis, and implement corrective actions. You will also drive the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of manufacturing processes and procedures, leveraging your strong working knowledge of both the product and best‑practice manufacturing techniques. Key Responsibilities Non‑Conformance Support: Identify, analyze, and resolve manufacturing discrepancies and non‑conformances. Use substantiated engineering judgment and risk assessment to disposition non‑conformances on flight hardware. Lead problem containment and root‑cause/corrective action investigations. Collaborate with production teams to identify and drive quality‑related initiatives and improvements. Perform structured root cause analysis of in‑process failures. Liaise between production, quality, supply chain, and design engineering for complex problem solving and process changes. Product, Process, and Tooling: Take ownership of assigned products that are production‑ready, acting as a subject matter expert. Develop and maintain product manuals and lessons‑learned documentation. Execute product improvements, including design and qualification activities. Develop and document production procedures and processes for repeatable, reliable manufacturing. Develop solutions for reliable (electro)mechanical assemblies and associated test fixtures. Develop and execute unique test methods for mission‑critical and safety‑critical hardware/systems. Provide engineering support for day‑to‑day production and quality processes. Train production personnel and leadership on new and existing processes and procedures. Design for Manufacture: Contribute to and steer design reviews, acting as an expert in design for manufacture and test. Oversee introduction and implementation of new products and product revisions. Continuous Improvement: Identify, plan, and execute capital equipment, machine, and layout upgrades to meet production requirements, including preparation of business cases. Lead continuous improvement initiatives using Lean/SixSigma tools and techniques. Develop, introduce, and maintain new planning, production, quality, ERP, data collection, and analysis processes. Expectations Provide solutions and ideas when faced with engineering challenges. Share knowledge on effectiveness of theories and concepts. Navigate and complete daily tasks within technical systems and interface with related systems. Create, approve, and improve technical documentation. Correctly assess risk, communicate, and implement solutions with long‑term mitigation. Assume ownership for improvements and challenges in assigned responsibilities. Break down tasks, plan, estimate, and prioritize in alignment with company goals. Identify engineering challenges and implement solutions to improve cost, quality, reliability, and delivery. Establish project plans and execute on time without supervision. Communicate effectively with peers and subordinates, set meeting agendas, and ensure timely completion of actions. Volunteer to support cross‑functional tasks and projects, and train others as needed. Demonstrate professionalism, punctuality, and adherence to company policies and standards. Ensure health and safety policies and procedures are followed at all times. Skills and Experience Essential Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Electrical, Mechanical, Computer, or Mechatronics Engineering, or related field. 3+ years’ experience as a Manufacturing, Production, or Process Engineer. Hands‑on technical experience debugging complex systems in a manufacturing environment. Strong communicator with proven ability to deliver KPIs with little to no supervision, both individually and as part of a team. Can‑do approach and flexibility to thrive in a fast‑paced, evolving environment. Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal. Desirable Experience with ERP/PLM Systems (Siemens Team Center, Infor LN). Knowledge of production quality metrics. Experience with environmental and production acceptance testing (vibration, shock, thermal, vacuum). Understanding of instrumentation, interfaces, and sensors (power supplies, oscilloscopes, serial devices, accelerometers, thermocouples, RTDs, 4‑20mA sensors). Experience with DFMEA, PFMEA, Fault Tree Analysis, Pareto analysis, root cause and corrective action. Experience with capacity modeling, process mapping, Lean/Six Sigma, and value stream mapping. SPC knowledge and experience applying statistical methods to track process capability and performance. Additional Information Domestic and international travel may be required. Additional duties as reasonably required. Adherence to company policies and procedures is expected. Equal Employment Opportunity Rocket Lab provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment at Rocket Lab, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training. #J-18808-Ljbffr