Principal Machinist

Canada Rocket Company is developing Canada's first medium-lift launch vehicle.

We are a team of veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, ArianeGroup, Pangea Propulsion, Tesla, MDA, and more, bringing over a century of combined launch and space systems experience back to Canada.

Our mission is to provide reliable, independent access to space for Canada and its allies in a rapidly expanding global market.

Our approach is defined by pragmatic engineering:

• We utilize a single 725 kN engine that scales from light- to medium-lift via engine clustering.
• We lean on simple, proven technologies to reach orbit faster, avoiding the pitfalls of complex or novel designs.
• We test early and often, catching problems on the bench instead of at the pad.

Backed by over $20M in funding secured within our first four months, including the largest all-Canadian seed round in the sector and an $8.3M Department of National Defence grant, we are moving with the speed and institutional backing required to meet Canada’s orbital launch needs.

About the role

Canada Rocket Company is building a sovereign launch capability for Canada, and precision machining is on the critical path of our E-1 engine. We’re looking for a Principal Machinist to set up and run CRC’s machine shop at our head office in Etobicoke. You will machine propulsion and vehicle hardware in materials from aluminum and copper through to Inconel, and your work will complement our in-house additive manufacturing capability.

This is a hands-on role. We want one person who can do the lot: set up the shop, program and run the parts, and help the designers get to parts that can be made well and made fast. You will report to the Head of Propulsion, work closely with propulsion, structures, and test teams, and supervise the test engineers and shop technicians who build our tooling. What matters most is that you are a problem solver who works things out and goes above and beyond to get the part right.

What you'll do

• Stand up and run the shop
• Commission CRC’s machine tools, including CNC mills and lathes, manual machines, and supporting equipment such as EDM, grinding, and saws, as the budget and workload require.
• Support lay out the shop and specify its supporting infrastructure: power, air, coolant, chip and swarf handling, tool storage, workholding, cutting tools, and metrology.
• Establish shop practices for safety, housekeeping, tool management, job tracking, and handling of Controlled Goods.
• Own the shop’s equipment, tooling, and consumables plan, and grow capability as the program scales.
• Make the parts
• Program and operate CNC machines to produce propulsion and vehicle parts in aluminum, copper alloys, stainless steels, Inconel, and other materials.
• Use manual mills and lathes where they are the fastest and best way to get the job done: one-offs, fixtures, quick-turn fixes, and rework.
• Finish-machine interfaces, sealing surfaces, and critical features on additively manufactured parts.
• Inspect your work and deliver parts to drawing, with the quality that flight and hot-fire hardware demands.
• Solve the hard problems
• Work out how to make difficult parts: thin walls, deep features, tight tolerances, and tough alloys. Design the fixturing, tooling, and process sequence needed.
• Troubleshoot machining, tooling, and process problems quickly, and keep hardware moving at the pace our test campaign demands.
• Look for the better way, and share what you learn so the whole shop improves.
• Design for manufacturability
• Work with designers early to show them what is possible, what is difficult, and what is easy.
• Suggest design changes that reduce cost, lead time, and risk, and say so plainly when a feature will be a problem to make.
• Review drawings and tolerances for producibility, and help the team build a shared understanding of the shop’s capabilities and limits.
• Lead the shop team
• Supervise the test engineers and shop technicians who manufacture tooling and work in the shop.
• Train team members in safe machine operation and good machining practice, and set the standard for quality and care.
• Prioritize work with the Head of Propulsion so the most critical hardware gets made first.

Qualifications

Required

• 5+ years of professional machining experience, including tool and die or similarly demanding precision work.
• Hands-on CNC programming and operation, from setup through to finished part.
• Experience machining a range of materials, including difficult alloys, and holding tight tolerances.
• Ability to read drawings and GD&T, and to inspect your own work using precision measurement tools.
• A proven problem solver: you work out how to make difficult parts and you take ownership of the result.
• Willingness to work with designers and engineers, explain what is hard and what is easy, and suggest ways to make parts better.
• Ability to work with Controlled Goods and to obtain a Controlled Goods Program security assessment.
• Comfort operating with ambiguity and limited infrastructure, in a test-early, iterate-fast program.

Preferred

• Manual machining experience on mills and lathes.
• Experience with NX CAM, Master CAM, or equivalent.
• Machinist or Tool and Die certification (for example Red Seal), or an equivalent trade qualification.
• Experience machining copper alloys and Inconel, or other nickel superalloys.
• Experience with aerospace, propulsion, defense, or other high-reliability hardware.
• Experience selecting machines and setting up or improving a machine shop.
• Experience supervising or mentoring technicians or engineers.
• Experience with wire or sinker EDM, CMM inspection, or finish machining of additively manufactured parts.