Senior Manufacturing Engineer

Application close date:

Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed.

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!  

This role is part of Blue Origin Operations, which is comprised of Integrated Supply Chain, Test Operations, Safety, Quality, and Mission Assurance. This includes Manufacturing and Supply Chain support across all Blue Origin facilities.

Senior Manufacturing Engineer – BE-7 & Blue Thrusters
Location: Huntsville, AL | Shift: A Shift, Monday–Friday | Level: Engineer – Manufacturing Sr (L4)

About the Role
Blue Origin is seeking a Senior Manufacturing Engineer to serve as the Manufacturing Engineering Subject Matter Expert across two of our most critical propulsion programs: BE-7 and Blue Thrusters. This is a high-visibility, high-impact staff role reporting directly to the Director of Operations.

BE-7 is entering qualification with production on the near horizon. Blue Thrusters encompasses multiple thruster variants currently in research and development, all requiring rapid transition to production. This person will be the connective tissue across both programs — setting the manufacturing standard, driving speed and decisiveness, and building the ME capability of the entire team.

This is not a role for someone who optimizes things that shouldn't exist. We need someone who can identify waste at its root, eliminate it, and teach others to do the same.

Key Responsibilities

Cross-Program ME Leadership

• Serve as the Manufacturing Engineering SME across BE-7 and Blue Thrusters value streams, splitting time equally between both programs

• Establish and enforce manufacturing best practices across all ME value streams; mentor and guide MEs at all levels to raise the technical floor of the entire organization

• Drive a culture of speed, decisiveness, and first-principles thinking — challenge MEs to eliminate processes that shouldn't exist before optimizing the ones that should

• Represent Manufacturing Engineering in high-visibility program forums, design reviews, and leadership readouts

• Serve as the technical escalation point for complex manufacturing problems across both programs; break down ambiguous failures to their root physical and materials-level causes

Design for Manufacturability (DFM/DFx)

• Provide assertive, data-backed DFM feedback to design engineers — including those resistant to change — and drive producibility improvements that reduce cost, cycle time, and rework

• Engage early in the design lifecycle to influence hardware before it becomes expensive to change

• Lead DFM/DFA reviews across both programs and drive outcomes into actionable engineering change requests

• Apply first-principles and materials science knowledge to evaluate design decisions at the physics level, not just the process level

Production Readiness & NPI

• Lead manufacturing readiness activities for BE-7 qualification and the transition to production

• Develop and execute NPI strategies for Blue Thrusters variants, building scalable manufacturing processes from the ground up

• Architect production systems capable of supporting medium-rate production (1,000+ units/year)

Automation Strategy & Implementation

• Lead the identification, strategy development, and implementation of manufacturing automation across both programs

• Drive automation stand-up from concept through commissioning — whether executing directly or overseeing implementation through others

• Develop and deploy AI-assisted manufacturing tools including but not limited to vision-based inspection systems, predictive quality analytics, and process optimization algorithms

• Leverage AI productivity tools to accelerate engineering analysis, troubleshooting, and documentation workflows across the ME team

• Build the team's capability and comfort with AI-enabled engineering — this person leads by example

Technical Foundation & Process Ownership

• Draw on direct prior experience authoring work instructions, managing manufacturing BOMs, and developing process documentation — applying that foundation to review, approve, and elevate the work of others rather than executing it day-to-day

• Establish process controls, qual