Senior Manufacturing Engineer, Fabrication
Antares · Los Angeles, CA
- Level
- Senior
- Team
- Manufacturing
- Degree
- Required
- Experience asked
- 5+ years
- Industry
- Industrial
- Posted
- Recently
The role in 30 seconds
A senior manufacturing role at Antares (industrial) in Los Angeles, CA. You will own the development and maturation of manufacturing processes used to build critical reactor hardware.
- They ask for
- 5+ years · degree required
- Tools it names
- Value stream mapping, Root cause, SPC, FMEA, GD&T, Validation (IQ/OQ/PQ)
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of October 19, 2026
Manufacturing Engineer roles in California: typical posted base $111k–$159k.
Median of the low and high ends of 110 live postings that list pay, out of 312 manufacturing engineer openings in California, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.
California plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →
How this role compares
Against 311 other live manufacturing postings in California.
- Base pay
- Not listed in this posting
- Experience asked
- Typical (5+ years)
Typical $109k–$153k, from 100 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- ✓ Tooling 55%
- New product launch 51%
- ✓ Root cause 40%
- Automation 34%
- ✓ Machining 30%
- CATIA / NX 29%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
Stands out: this posting asks for Value stream mapping, SPC, CNC, which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Manufacturing team at Antares
Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. Use the team search on this page to find them.
- 2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
- 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- Is the work mostly new product launches or sustaining existing lines?
- How much time do you spend on the floor versus at a desk?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
- 5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
Full description from AntaresAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
Responsibilities
- ◆Own fabrication processes for critical Antares reactor components and assemblies from initial development through qualified production.
- ◆Develop and improve fabrication processes, including welding, CNC machining, and metal forming, additive manufacturing, brazing, and diffusion bonding.
- ◆Develop manufacturing methods for first-of-a-kind hardware and mature them into robust, repeatable production processes.
- ◆Partner with design and materials engineering to influence component design, material selection, joint configuration, tolerances, and other
requirements
to improve manufacturability.
- ✓Lead DFM reviews and identify manufacturing risks early in the design cycle.
- ✓Define manufacturing sequences, process parameters, tooling requirements, inspection methods, and process controls.
- ✓Develop manufacturing plans, work instructions, process specifications, and qualification documentation.
- ✓Develop and execute process qualification plans using dimensional inspection, metallography, mechanical testing, NDT, and other verification methods as appropriate.
- ✓Work hands-on with technicians, machinists, welders, and inspectors to troubleshoot manufacturing problems and rapidly implement solutions.
- ✓Lead root-cause investigations and corrective actions for manufacturing defects, nonconformances, and process failures.
- ✓Evaluate make-versus-buy decisions based on technical capability, risk, schedule, and cost.
- ✓Support the transition of reactor hardware from development builds into repeatable production.
- ✓Mentor engineers and technicians in manufacturing process development and structured problem solving.
Basic
Qualifications
- ✓Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Materials Science/Engineering, Welding Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
- ✓5+ years of professional experience in manufacturing engineering, fabrication, manufacturing process development, or complex hardware development.
- ✓Demonstrated technical depth in at least one of the following:
o Welding
o CNC machining
o Metal Forming
o Brazing
o Metal Additive Manufacturing
o Other advanced metallic fabrication or joining processes
- ✓Broad working knowledge of metallic manufacturing processes and the interactions between material, design, process, tooling, and inspection requirements.
- ✓Demonstrated experience independently developing, troubleshooting, and implementing manufacturing processes for complex hardware.
- ✓Experience taking manufacturing processes from initial development into production or process qualification.
- ✓Strong understanding of engineering drawings, GD&T, tolerance analysis, material specifications, and manufacturing requirements.
- ✓Experience performing root-cause analysis and resolving complex manufacturing problems.
- ✓Ability to work effectively across design engineering, materials, quality, manufacturing, and production teams.
Preferred Skills & Experience
- ✓Experience with aerospace or nuclear reactor components, pressure vessels, primary/secondary systems, fuel systems, thermal systems, or reactor instrumentation and controls.
- ✓Experience developing manufacturing processes subject to nuclear quality assurance
requirements
or other rigorous quality/regulatory frameworks.
- ✓Working knowledge of ASME Section III, NQA-1, or comparable nuclear quality requirements.
- ✓Experience with process qualification and validation for special processes.
- ✓Experience with PFMEA, process capability studies, statistical process control, value-stream mapping, and capacity analysis.
- ✓Experience developing manufacturing processes for safety-significant or safety-critical hardware.
- ✓Experience transitioning low-volume prototype hardware into repeatable production.
- ✓Familiarity with manufacturing execution systems, ERP/MRP systems, PLM systems, and digital work-instruction platforms.
- ✓Experience working in an environment where configuration control, traceability, material control, and process documentation are critical to product acceptance.
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About Us
At Antares, our long-term mission is to make clean energy abundant from Earth to the Asteroid Belt. We’re fueled by the belief that advanced nuclear energy can strengthen our military, solve the climate crisis, elevate global living standards, and expand humanity's presence in outer space. To achieve our mission, we’re building mass-producible, inherently safe, deployable microreactors that can be used terrestrially, underwater, and in space.
The Antares team hails from SpaceX, the White House, the Pentagon, the Department of Energy, MIT, Rigetti Computing, General Atomics, Relativity Space, Ursa Major, and National Laboratories like Idaho, Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, and Savannah River. Antares has raised over $600M in venture capital from top-tier investors and has hundreds of million-dollars on contract with the military services, NASA, and the Department of Energy.
About the Team
As a Senior Manufacturing Engineer – Fabrication at Antares, you will own the development and maturation of manufacturing processes used to build critical reactor hardware. You will work across design, materials, quality, and manufacturing to turn first-of-a-kind designs into hardware and establish the processes required to produce that hardware reliably and repeatedly. This role spans a broad range of fabrication technologies, with a primary focus on welding, metal forming, and CNC machining, as well as special processes including additive manufacturing, brazing, and diffusion bonding. You will operate with a high degree of autonomy, solving complex manufacturing problems and developing new capabilities where established solutions do not exist. You will work directly with machinists, welders, technicians, suppliers, and engineers to rapidly iterate on hardware while developing robust and controlled manufacturing processes.
Role &
Location
- •We are located in Torrance, CA in a 322,000 square foot, brand new facili