Senior 5 Axis CNC Machinist/Programmer

Travel:

Occasional travel to the United States for customer meetings

About the Opportunity:

We are seeking 2 to 3 experienced Senior CNC Applications Leads specializing in five-axis precision machining to support complex manufacturing projects and strengthen our technical engagement with customers.

This is a hands-on, customer-facing technical leadership opportunity for an experienced machining professional who can translate intricate engineering designs into practical, reliable, and cost-effective manufacturing solutions.

Key Responsibilities:

1. CNC Applications and Machining Process Development

• Review customer CAD models, engineering drawings, technical specifications, and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) requirements to assess manufacturability.
• Develop machining strategies for intricate precision components using advanced five-axis CNC machining.
• Determine machining sequences, setups, workholding and fixturing requirements, tooling selections, and cutting strategies.
• Develop, simulate, verify, and optimize CAM programs to support successful machine prove-out and production readiness.
• Personally contribute to programming, setup planning, and prove-out of complex five-axis components.
• Troubleshoot machining challenges involving tool access, part distortion, vibration, material removal, surface finish, dimensional accuracy, and repeatability.
• Support components through first-article inspection and resolve manufacturing issues before production release.
• Collaborate with CNC programmers, machinists, manufacturing engineers, and quality personnel to establish reliable, repeatable manufacturing processes.

2. Design for Manufacturability (DFM)

• Lead technical reviews of customer designs to identify manufacturing challenges, cost drivers, and opportunities for improvement.
• Recommend practical design changes involving internal radii, deep pockets, thin walls, tool accessibility, tolerances, datums, surface finishes, and workholding.
• Explain the manufacturing implications of design changes while preserving functional and performance requirements.
• Evaluate alternative manufacturing approaches to balance precision, quality, machining complexity, lead time, and cost.
• Identify opportunities to reduce setup time, cycle time, tooling costs, inspection complexity, and scrap risk.
• Document DFM recommendations, including the rationale, expected benefits, and potential trade-offs.
• Work collaboratively with customer engineering teams to resolve design challenges before production begins.

3. Customer Technical Engagement

• Represent the organization's machining expertise during customer design reviews, manufacturing discussions, and new product introduction meetings.
• Travel to customer sites in the United States as required to review components, discuss manufacturing challenges, and recommend appropriate production approaches.
• Lead technical discussions with customer design engineers, manufacturing engineers, and other stakeholders.
• Ask informed questions, clarify design intent, and constructively challenge requirements that introduce unnecessary manufacturing complexity or risk.
• Clearly explain machining strategies, manufacturing limitations, inspection requirements, and design recommendations to technical and commercial audiences.
• Build customer confidence through sound technical judgment, practical recommendations, and professional communication.

4. Quoting, Cost Analysis and New Product Introduction

• Support estimating and quoting by evaluating machining complexity, setup requirements, cycle times, tooling costs, material considerations, and inspection requirements.
• Identify cost, lead-time, and scrap-risk drivers during the initial drawing review.
• Recommend appropriate manufacturing approaches for prototypes, first articles, and repeat production quantities.
• Collaborate with estimating, engineering, operations, and quality teams to assess project feasibility and establish realistic manufacturing plans.
• Provide technical input to ensure quoted manufacturing approaches are practical, achievable, and commercially competitive.
• Support new product introduction from initial drawing review through successful first production runs.

5. Technical Leadership and Continuous Improvement

• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to CNC programmers, machinists, and other team members.
• Share machining best practices and strengthen internal programming and manufacturing capabilities.
• Establish and maintain clear documentation of machining strategies, DFM recommendations, and process decisions.
• Identify opportunities to improve programming methods, tooling strategies, process con