Technician - Custom Machinery Assembly III

Job description

Application close date: Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed. At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! This role is part of Blue Origin Operations, which is comprised of Integrated Supply Chain, Test Operations, Safety, Quality, and Mission Assurance. This includes Manufacturing and Supply Chain support across all Blue Origin facilities. This role supports the build, commissioning, and sustainment of a family of advanced custom precision machines built entirely in-house at Blue Origin. These are not purchased tools with a service contract behind them — we architect them, build them, instrument them, break them, and make them production-worthy ourselves. Each system is a large-envelope, multi-axis, closed-loop precision platform operating inside a sealed process volume, coordinating motion, thermal, fluid, and optical subsystems to hold micron-class positional accuracy across a meter-scale working envelope — continuously, for weeks at a time, without operator intervention. As a Technician III you are the person who makes that real. You will assemble and align the mechanisms, bring new machines to life, and keep a fleet of them holding tolerance under production load. When a machine goes down, engine hardware stops moving — and you are the first line of response. This is a technician seat on a small team that owns its hardware end to end. You will work shoulder to shoulder with the design engineers who drew the parts you are installing, and your feedback changes the drawings. The machines are in production today and the next-generation configuration is in active design, so you will build new hardware and sustain fielded hardware in the same week. Passion for our mission and vision is required. Special Mentions • Relocation provided • This position may require shift work, extended hours, weekend coverage, or on-call response to support machines running continuous builds • Interviews will include a hands-on technical assessment • On-site role — this hardware cannot be supported remotely ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Responsibilities include but are not limited to: • Perform precision mechanical assembly of multi-axis motion subsystems �� gantry structures, linear rails and carriages, dual-motor coupled axes, vertical lift stages, traversing mechanisms, and precision blade and wiper assemblies — working from engineering drawings, assembly instructions, and work orders • Install, align, and verify high-resolution linear encoder feedback systems, including read-head air-gap setting, scale alignment, and shield termination • Execute machine alignment and calibration campaigns using precision metrology — dial indicators, height gauges, optical trackers, and coordinate measuring equipment — and iterate measure-correct-remeasure passes until the machine converges inside its accuracy budget • Apply calibrated torque per specification, install and verify fasteners and locking features, and document as-installed values • Assemble, leak-check, and commission fluid and gas subsystems — cooling loops, chillers, gas distribution, purge circuits, filtration, and sealed-volume containment • Route, terminate, and dress cabling and service loops, including continuously flexing cable carriers, with attention to signal integrity and strain relief • Bring new machines up from mechanically complete to production-ready: power-on checks, axis commissioning, subsystem functional verification, and first-article support • Troubleshoot mechanical, electromechanical, pneumatic, and fluid faults on fielded machines to component level, isolating root cause rather than swapping parts until symptoms clear • Perform preventive and corrective maintenance on an operating fleet, including scheduled service, wear-item replacement, and precision component swaps that must preserve alignment • Execute retrofit and upgrade work on machines already in production, where downtime is measured against hardware deliveries • Document all work in the work-order system — as-found and as-left condition, parts consumed, measurements taken, and anomalies observed — to the standard that lets an engineer reconstruct what happened months later • Write and red-line assembly, commissioning, and maintenance procedures based on what actually works on the floor • Support root-cause investigations by capturing data, preserving failed hardware, and contributing direct observation to the analysis • Follow lockout/tagout, confined-space, energized-work, and PPE requirements without exception, and stop work when conditions are unsafe • Train and mentor junior technicians, and serve as a technical resource for assembly and troubleshooting methods ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Minimum Qualifications • High school diploma or GED • 5+ years of hands-on experience in precision mechanical assembly, industrial machinery maintenance, automation equipment, machine building, or equivalent military technical experience • Demonstrated ability to work from engineering drawings, assembly instructions, schematics, and written procedures with minimal supervision • Proficiency with precision measurement tools — calipers, micrometers, dial indicators, height gauges, feeler gauges — and the judgment to know when a measurement is trustworthy • Experience with mechanical alignment of precision equipment (shafts, rails, stages, or comparable) • Proficiency with hand and power tools, and correct use of calibrated torque equipment • Experience troubleshooting electromechanical systems, including basic use of a multimeter • A