The Director of Design-to-Manufacturing (D2M) leads the organization responsible for transforming product and program requirements into controlled, validated, scalable manufacturing and test systems capable of supporting satellite production, integration, verification, and launch readiness. This role ensures engineering intent is developed for production while developing the team through technical guidance, operational excellence, and design-for-excellence feedback to engineering. The Director establishes the D2M technical operating model connecting Product Engineering to D2M to AIT Operations, ensuring engineering intent can be repeatedly built, integrated, tested, supported, and improved throughout the product lifecycle. The role owns the industrialization of Orbitworks' products from engineering definition through manufacturing and test readiness. Orbitworks' mission is to make space simple for organizations that want to deploy physical and virtual missions to space. Building on Loft Orbital's heritage, Orbitworks will be the first commercial firm in the United Arab Emirates to mass-manufacture satellites, aiming to manufacture tens of satellites annually from a 50,000-square-foot facility in Abu Dhabi.
Responsibilities
Lead manufacturing and test teams across Manufacturing Systems & MGSE, Verification & Validation Test Engineering, and Test Platforms & EGSE; Turn engineering requirements into production-ready processes, overseeing work instructions, bills of materials, routings, assembly workflows, tooling, fixtures, and process validation; Ensure test readiness by overseeing test methods, procedures, scripts, limits, configurations, coverage, and verification evidence; Own test infrastructure readiness, guiding development, validation, deployment, and maintenance of test benches, instrumentation, automation, networking, and spacecraft interfaces; Review designs for manufacturability and testability with mechanical, electrical, software, and systems engineering; Resolve manufacturing and test issues through root-cause investigations, bottleneck troubleshooting, and corrective actions; Manage priorities and performance by tracking readiness, quality, schedule, cost, throughput, risks, and resource needs; Standardize and scale operations, establishing reusable tooling, test platforms, common standards, and predictable handoffs to Assembly, Integration and Test (AIT); Coach and develop the team, clarifying ownership, strengthening technical leadership, and improving cross-functional collaboration
Requirements
Strong manufacturing engineering and test engineering experience, translating complex designs into practical manufacturing and verification systems; MGSE and EGSE expertise, including development, implementation, validation, and ongoing support; Experience with hardware-in-the-loop/software-in-the-loop (HIL/SIL) or similarly complex integration and test environments; Practical Design for Manufacturing, Assembly and Test (DFM/DFA/DFT) knowledge, with examples of influencing design decisions; Proven technical team leadership and coaching, ideally across multiple engineering disciplines; Strong collaboration across engineering, production, quality, supply chain, and programs; Hands-on problem-solving and delivery under pressure, supported by examples of shipping complex hardware and resolving real production issues
Nice to have
Direct satellite or aerospace manufacturing experience; Electronics or defence/DoD manufacturing experience involving complex, high-reliability systems; Familiarity with ERP/MES systems for production workflows, reporting, and traceability; Experience with agile or concurrent engineering, rapid prototyping, and iterative engineering-to-manufacturing handoffs; Knowledge of AS9100 and ISO 9001 quality standards
Zjednoczone Emiraty Arabskie · Abu Dhabi
