Tooling Design Engineer, Air Vehicles

Costa Mesa · Costa Mesa, CA (OC-00) · USD 129,000-171,000 · 5-10 years experience · Full-time · Posted Oct 2, 2026

At a glance

As a Tooling Engineer, you will design, validate, and implement high-quality tooling and fixtures to enable efficient and safe manufacturing of complex aircraft structures.
Collaborating with engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and quality teams, you'll support new product introduction and production scaling while staying closely connected to the production floor.

Lead and assist the air vehicle development team with new product designs to ensure manufacturability and validate processes/technology.
Provide real-time manufacturing floor support, resolving tooling-related issues and collaborating with technicians and engineers to improve production processes.
Conduct detailed tolerance stack-up and GD&T analysis of assemblies and their fixturing to ensure fit, function, and repeatability across production stages.
Own and execute tool designs using CAD software.
Understand and communicate tool access and machine access requirements.
Select the best methods for producing parts, tools, or assemblies.
Conduct root cause failure investigations and implement corrective actions.

5+ years of experience in production assembly/fabrication, including composites, metallics, and manufacturing operations for air vehicles (manned or unmanned).
Demonstrated ability to distinguish critical design differences between prototype and production tooling.
Experience with detailed tooling requirements for composite manufacturing processes, including lamination, curing, trimming, and assembly.
Proficiency in designing mechanical parts using CAD.
Understanding of manufacturing methods such as machining, sheet metal, composites, 3D printing, injection molding, and casting.
BS in Mechanical, Aerospace, or a related Engineering discipline, or equivalent applicable experience.
Must be able to obtain and hold a U.S. security clearance.

Experience using NX/Teamcenter.
5–10 years of experience in tool design.
Familiarity with Full Scale Determinate Assembly (FSDA) is preferred.
Aviation or automotive passion demonstrated through certifications, licenses, or hobbies.
Aircraft development experience.
Active U.S. Secret security clearance.

Highly competitive equity grants included in the majority of full time offers
Top-tier benefits for full-time employees supporting health, recovery, and whatever comes next