Manufacturing Engineer

About the Role

This position reports to the Manufacturing Engineering Manager and is part of the Manufacturing Engineering Team located in San Jose, CA. This will be an on-site role.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, optimize, and sustain product assembly and support secondary manufacturing processes to improve safety, quality, delivery, and cost performance.
• Troubleshoot process, equipment, tooling, material, and automation-related issues using structured problem-solving methodologies, while leveraging manufacturing data and statistical analysis tools to improve process capability, reduce scrap, increase yield, and maximize production resource effectiveness.
• Lead root cause investigations for quality defects, process deviations, equipment-related issues, and customer complaints. Drive corrective and preventive actions, continuous improvement initiatives, and operational excellence efforts focused on cycle time reduction, waste elimination, labor efficiency, capacity expansion, and cost reduction.
• Support the full lifecycle of manufacturing test equipment and production processes, including validation, qualification, installation, commissioning, startup, and operational readiness activities.
• Partner with operations, maintenance, quality, supply chain, equipment suppliers, outside manufacturers, and material vendors to establish process standards, support new product introductions and engineering changes, and ensure long-term manufacturing performance and reliability.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Bachelor's degree in engineering (Chemical, Mechanical, Manufacturing, Process, Industrial, or related field) with 2+ years of experience or Master's degree with 0 - 2 years of experience in complex equipment manufacturing engineering, process engineering.
• Demonstrated success troubleshooting and optimizing manufacturing processes in a low-volume, high-value production environment.
• Strong understanding of process engineering principles, statistical analysis, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement methodologies, including Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, 5-Why, Fishbone Analysis, SPC, and FMEA, with the ability to analyze complex technical problems and implement practical, data-driven solutions.
• Experience working with manufacturing automation, process controls, data collection systems, and industrial equipment.
• Strong project management, organizational, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills to effectively manage multiple priorities and drive business results.
• Ability to lift, move or carry equipment up to 25lb, and any other physical requirements.

Qualifications

• Previous experience in life science related research equipment manufacturing processes.
• Previous experience with automation systems, data analysis, and problem-solving methodologies to effectively lead technical projects in a complex production environment.

It would be a plus if you also possess previous experience in:

• Experience with Visual Studio Code, Claude Code, or related programming and AI tools.