Automation & Controls Engineer

The Role

You'll be at the heart of bringing the production system to life. K2 has a strong push to vertically integrate our production system, which means you'll work side-by-side with the production and engineering team to concept, develop, and roll out various automation projects to support this vision.

This role is built for someone who learns quickly, thrives in a fast-paced environment, and wants to take ownership early. You'll develop deep technical intuition, contribute to systems that scale, and grow into increasingly complex challenges as we push towards higher-rate production in an environment unlike anywhere else.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with mechanical, electrical, and production engineers to ensure seamless production automation across hardware and control layers

• Design and develop production tooling electromechanical automation assemblies either in-house or through vendors

• Own hands-on buildout, activation, and qualification of automation and controls projects across the production line spanning machine design, robotics, computer vision, and other systems

• Implement our HMI strategy and PLC automation in a way that makes machines easy to operate with repeatable results

• Understand build flow, production reliability, and process control to implement strategies to increase production takt rate and first pass yield

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical, manufacturing, aerospace, materials or other relevant engineering discipline

• 2+ years of experience in a high-volume manufacturing, production, or hands-on engineering environment

• Strong hands-on aptitude and willingness to work directly with hardware on the production floor

• Exposure to precision assembly or electromechanical integration processes

• Ability to read engineering drawings, schematics, and technical documentation

• Experience setting up a manufacturing/production floor for first article builds

Nice to Have

• Hands-on experience with industrial automation hardware & controls, PLC/HMI/Robotics software control stacks, electrical and fluid schematics

• Exposure to space, defense, or other high-reliability manufacturing environments

• Experience designing automation systems for manufacturability

• Demonstrated experience developing production processes from the ground up including driving design improvements for manufacturing

• Experience working closely with technicians and build tooling

• Familiarity with CAD software (NX or equivalent) and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T)

Compensation and Benefits:

• Base salary range for this role is $100,000 - $140,000 + equity in the company

• Salary will be based on several factors including, but not limited to: knowledge and skills, education, and experience level

• Comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, medical/dental/vision/ coverage, life insurance, paid parental leave, and many other perks

If you don't meet 100% of the preferred skills and experience, we encourage you to still apply! Building a spacecraft unlike any other requires a team unlike any other and non-traditional career twists and turns are encouraged!

If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.