Amazon Leo is Amazon's low Earth orbit satellite network. Our mission is to deliver fast, reliable broadband connectivity to customers beyond the reach of existing networks. From households to small businesses, schools, hospitals, and government agencies, Amazon Leo will serve communities and organizations operating in places without dependable internet access.
We are seeking a Senior Prototyping Engineer to join our Prototyping and Integration (PI) Team. In this role, you will serve as the machine shop's principal technical authority on advanced prototype manufacturing—owning the most complex, highest-risk aerospace builds end-to-end and setting the machining strategy, standards, and processes that the entire lab operates by. You will drive CNC programming, setup, and production of the most challenging precision electro-mechanical components, define how difficult parts get made before anyone touches a machine, and partner with design and manufacturing engineering at the earliest stages to influence hardware design for manufacturability, cost, and schedule.
Beyond executing individual builds, you will shape the capability and direction of the prototyping function: establishing shop-wide processes and standards, mentoring and technically leading other machinists and prototyping engineers, and driving continuous improvement initiatives that scale throughput and reliability across the organization. You will be trusted to make independent technical judgment calls on ambiguous, first-of-their-kind parts, to balance competing program priorities across the shop, and to raise the bar on machining quality and velocity for the whole team. This role requires deep, expert-level hands-on CNC expertise, strong process and program ownership, sound engineering judgment under ambiguity, and the ability to lead through influence in a fast-paced development environment.
Key job responsibilities
- Own the most complex, highest-risk aerospace prototype builds end-to-end on multi-axis mills, lathes, and mill-turn equipment—and serve as the shop's escalation point for the parts no one else can make to print.
- Define the lab's advanced machining strategy—CAM approaches, fixturing philosophy, and process sequencing—and standardize it so the whole team can execute with quality and repeatability at scale.
- Partner with design engineering early in the design cycle to drive design-for-manufacturability and influence decisions before they are finalized.
- Set machining quality and throughput standards across the shop and lead continuous improvement initiatives, owning them to conclusion to measurably increase throughput and reduce cycle time.
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship to machinists and prototyping engineers, raising the capability of the team.
- Make independent technical judgment calls on ambiguous, first-of-their-kind parts, balancing risk, cost, quality, and schedule across multiple concurrent programs.
- Troubleshoot complex quality issues and drive corrective actions to root cause, building lasting process fixes rather than one-off corrections.
A day in the life
You'll spend much of your day at the machines cutting the most demanding aerospace prototypes—and serving as the person the team turns to when a part is too complex, tight, or novel to make any other way. Between builds, you'll review incoming designs for manufacturability, define shop standards, mentor other engineers, and drive improvement initiatives. When a test team is waiting on critical hardware, you'll make the call on how to deliver quickly without compromising quality, and own the outcome.
About the team
The Prototyping and Integration Team accelerates hardware development through rapid prototyping, manufacturing, and integration of novel Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) and systems for the Optical Intersatellite Link organization. Our service areas span Hardware Fabrication, Electrical Integration, Electromechanical Hardware Development, DVT and Qualification Testing, and Quality Assurance. Our learnings are directly applied to scale aerospace manufacturing processes and enable risk reduction through comprehensive testing. We seek candidates who thrive in dynamic, fast-paced environments. Success requires high motivation, attention to detail, and the highest standards of execution.
