Assembly Design Manager

Manager, Assembly Design Engineering

Job Title: Manager, Assembly Design EngineeringLocation: Mesa, AZReports To: Director of EngineeringFLSA: Exempt

Summary

The Manager, Assembly Design Engineering leads a team of Assembly DesignEngineers responsible for creating, standardizing, and improvinghigh-performance RF hardware kits and coaxial cable assembly designs. Thisindividual serves as a technical leader and people manager, ensuring the teamdevelops robust, manufacturable, and compliant designs that meet customer,internal, and industry requirements.

This role is also responsible for driving new engineering policies, procedures,and design controls to support more advanced BOM structures, including linereplaceable units (LRUs) and group-A and group-B kits. The manager must beadaptable, process-oriented, and capable of leading cross-functional change toimprove design consistency, configuration control, and release readiness.

Exposure to Aerospace and Defense programs, standards, and customer expectationsis a plus.

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Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Team Leadership and Development

Lead, coach, and develop a team of Cable Assembly Design Engineers.Set priorities, tack team KPI's, drive process improvement, assign work,and ensure engineering resources are aligned to business needs.Provide performance feedback, support employee development, and encouragetechnical growth.Promote a culture of accountability, collaboration, ownership, andcontinuous improvement.

Engineering Leadership

Oversee the design, documentation, and release of cable assemblies,harnesses, and related interconnect products.Ensure design work balances form, fit, function, manufacturability,performance, and cost.Support the team in evaluating materials, components, and design approachesfor demanding mechanical and electrical requirements.Review and guide design calculations, simulations, prototype development,and validation activities as needed.Support troubleshooting of design, documentation, and production-relatedissues.

Policy and Procedure Development

Develop and implement engineering policies, procedures, and standards tosupport advanced BOM structures and controlled design practices.Establish or improve processes for LRUs, group-A kits, group-B kits, andother complex product structures.Drive standardization in design elements, documentation, and productconfiguration management.Ensure the engineering organization has the tools, methods, and controlsneeded to support repeatable and scalable design release processes.Identify gaps in current practices and lead changes that improve quality,consistency, and efficiency.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Partner closely with Sales, Applications Engineering, Manufacturing,Quality, Supply Chain, and Operations.Support new product development by converting customer and marketrequirements into manufacturable design solutions.Work with internal and external suppliers to improve manufacturability,availability, and cost effectiveness of designs.Support resolution of production floor issues, non-conformances, anddesign-related failures.Coordinate with program teams to ensure design deliverables align withschedule and customer expectations.

Technical Oversight

Guide the team in applying engineering principles to evaluate tensile,torque, crush, sealing, loss, phase, VSWR, and other critical designcharacteristics.Ensure compliance with applicable customer, industry, and militarystandards.Encourage use of formal problem-solving methods to identify root cause andimplement corrective actions.Maintain awareness of emerging materials, methods, and technologies relevantto high-performance cable assemblies.

Aerospace and Defense Support

Support aerospace and defense programs requiring disciplined configurationcontrol, traceability, and compliance with military or customer standards.Help ensure the team can support more complex product architectures andqualification requirements.Promote strong documentation practices and workmanship standards appropriatefor regulated or high-reliability applications.

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Qualifications / Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, orrelated technical field.4+ years of experience in cable assembly design, interconnect engineering,manufacturing engineering, or related technical discipline.Prior people leadership or engineering management experience preferred.Strong knowledge of coaxial cable assembly design principles, materials, andmanufacturing methods.Experience with RF and microwave test equipment and design validation.Experience with MIL-STD-348, IEEE 287 interfaces, MIL-DTL-38999 interconnectsystems, and IPC/WHMA-A-620 workmanship standards preferred.Familiarity with advanced BOM structures, configuration-controlled products,or kit-based assemblies preferred.Experience with LRUs and group-A / group-B kit structures highly desirable.Strong understanding of design for manufacturability, standardization, anddocumentation control.Proficiency with Microsoft Office, AutoCAD, DraftSight, SolidWorks, orsimilar tools.Experience with mechanical component design.Ability to manage multiple priorities, lead change, and communicateeffectively across functions.Strong judgment, attention to detail, and problem-solving skills.

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Preferred Qualifications

Aerospace and Defense industry experience.Familiarity with military standards, test requirements, and high-reliabilitydesign practices.Experience leading process improvement or engineering standardizationinitiatives.Experience with CST or similar RF simulation software.Proven ability to build and implement engineering procedures in a growing orevolving organization.