Director of Machining

Boom is building a supersonic airliner, and the engine that powers it, largely in-house. That means we machine our own parts — complex, tight-tolerance, schedule-critical parts, at rates that are climbing fast.

We are building a production machining organization to do it. Not a job shop. Not a prototype shop. A real production operation with multiple machining cells, each led by a technically deep cell manager, all running to a program schedule that does not move.

You would build and run that organization.

This is deliberately a leadership role, not a super-machinist role. Your cell managers carry the technical authority on the floor. You carry the organization: who's in it, how it's structured, what standard it holds, and whether it delivers. You also carry the harder strategic question underneath all of it — what should Boom make in-house, what capability do we need to make it, and how fast can we stand that capability up.

What you'll do

• Build and lead a team of machining cell managers. Define the org, hire the leaders, develop them, and hold them to a standard. This is the core of the job — everything else runs through the people you put in place.
• Own production output across every machining cell. Not one cell's numbers — the whole org's. When the schedule is at risk, you own the recovery and you bring a plan, not a status update.
• Drive machine commissioning alongside engineering. New equipment arrives constantly. You're in the room for acceptance testing, first article, and process qualification — owning the timeline from crate to qualified production.
• Own the make-in-house strategy for machining. Which parts and part families we produce internally, which we source out, and what capability we need to build to expand that line. You form the point of view and you defend it.
• Influence part design before drawings are released. Machining should be shaping manufacturability at the front end, not absorbing the consequences at the back end. You make that relationship with engineering real.
• Set the standards the shop runs on — shift handoffs, escalation paths, process discipline, safety, quality. The cells are distinct. The standards are not.
• Be the machining org's face to engineering, quality, supply chain, and facilities. Reduce friction rather than create it. No one should have to work around you to get an answer.
• Own the culture. Build a shop where people are pushed hard and treated well — and where the leadership layer beneath you does the same, because you showed them how.

You probably have

• Experience leading a layer of managers or supervisors, not just individual contributors. You know what it takes to be accountable for output you don't personally control.
• A manufacturing or engineering background with real grounding in machining. You may have come up as a manufacturing engineer, a process engineer, or a machinist who moved into leadership — you don't need to be the best programmer in the building, but you can't be a stranger to the work.
• A track record in high-mix, precision manufacturing — complex parts, tight tolerances, skilled trades. You understand that machinists are not interchangeable and that a good one is hard to replace.
• Scars from difficult production schedules. You've been in the room when the plan was falling apart and you owned getting it back.
• Real hiring experience in a skilled trades environment. You've made good calls and bad ones and you know the difference now.
• Experience commissioning equipment or standing up new capability — taking a process from nothing to producing parts to standard.

You will thrive here if

• You can push a team hard and still have them want to work for you. Both halves of that sentence matter. We are serious about this.
• You'd rather build a leader than be the hero. The best version of you leaves behind cell managers who are better than when you found them.
• You give hard feedback directly and early, without theater and without cruelty.
• You think about what the org needs to look like in a year, not just what's on fire today — and you build ahead of the curve instead of reacting to it.
• You want to expand what a company can physically make, not just keep an existing shop running.

If you've built a machining organization that could make things the company couldn't make before — and you did it with a team that stuck around — we should talk.

Why Boom

Boom is building one of the most ambitious industrial programs of this century. The work is hard, the pace is fast, and the expectations are high.

In return, you'll get real ownership over a quality system built from the ground up, direct impact on hardware that matters, and the opportunity to architect the inspection infrastructure behind a supersonic aircraft and next-generation turbine.

If that excites you, apply.

Compensation

The Base Salary Range for this position is $178,000 - $225,000 per year. Actual salaries will vary based on factors including but not limited to location, experience, and performance. The range listed is just one component of Boom’s total rewards package for employees. Other rewards may include long-term incentives/equity, a flexible PTO policy, and many other progressive benefits.

There is no set deadline to apply for this job opportunity. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the search is no longer active.

ITAR Requirement

To conform to U.S. Government aerospace technology export regulations (ITAR and EAR), applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about ITAR here.

Boom is an equal opportunity employer, including for individuals with disabilities and protected veterans. We are building a culture of merit and excellence.

Want to build a faster future? Come join Boom.