Engineering Administrator Jobs (NOW HIRING)

About VetPowered:
VetPowered, LLC, named Veteran Owned Small Business of the Year in the United States, is a rapidly growing San Diego based corporation specializing in manufacturing, welding, fabrication, machinery repair and customized training under private and U.S. Government contracts. VetPowered employs a highly trained workforce that uses the latest in cutting edge CNC equipment. VetPowered is dedicated to bringing advanced manufacturing back to America.

Key Job Functions:
At VetPowered, the Manufacturing Engineering Administrator - Quoting & BOMs will support the transition from customer requirements to accurate quotes, awarded purchase orders, and bills of material. This role is a strong opportunity for a recent engineering graduate or early-career engineering professional looking to build practical experience in a hands-on aerospace and contract manufacturing environment.

Before purchase orders are received, this role will support quoting by reviewing customer drawings, specifications, models, quality clauses, and related technical documents to help identify the materials, hardware, outside processing, tooling, inspection requirements, and production needs required to estimate the work accurately.

After purchase orders are received, this role will help convert awarded work into production-ready job packages. This includes developing and updating bills of material based on the awarded PO, customer drawings, specifications, revision levels, quality requirements, and any changes from the original quote. The Manufacturing Engineering Specialist will help ensure required raw material, hardware, tooling, fixtures, inserts, gauges, consumables, outside processing, and inspection-related requirements are identified before the job is released to production.

This position will work closely with estimating, purchasing, quality, programming, manufacturing, and leadership to confirm that quoted requirements, awarded PO requirements, BOMs, tooling needs, and production planning details are aligned. The ideal candidate will have a strong technical foundation, attention to detail, and a desire to learn how engineering requirements become real parts on the shop floor.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Assist with Quoting and Technical Review
• Review customer drawings, models, specifications, purchase orders, statements of work, quality clauses, and supporting documentation to identify full job requirements.
• Assist in reviewing drawings for quotes and active jobs to identify problem areas, manufacturability concerns, missing requirements, and compliance risks.
• Identify drawing, specification, or customer requirement issues that may affect pricing, lead time, manufacturability, quality, or delivery.
• Support quote preparation by identifying assumptions, exclusions, risks, special requirements, and open questions.
• Assist with estimating labor, material, outside processing, tooling, inspection, and production requirements.
• Coordinate with program managers, purchasing, quality, manufacturing leads, programming, and customers to confirm job requirements as needed.

Bill of Material and Tooling Ownership
• Create, maintain, and update accurate bills of material for quoted and awarded jobs.
• Develop finalized BOMs after purchase orders are received, ensuring all customer requirements, drawings, specifications, revisions, and quality clauses are accounted for before production release.
• Identify required raw materials, hardware, outside processing, coatings, tooling, fixtures, consumables, and other job-specific requirements.
• Own tooling requirements for assigned jobs, including identifying required tooling, fixtures, special tools, inserts, gauges, and consumables needed to support production.
• Coordinate with purchasing, manufacturing, programming, and quality to confirm tooling and BOM requirements are accurate, available, and aligned with the production plan.
• Review quoted BOMs against awarded purchase orders and job requirements to identify changes, missing items, or additional costs before release to the shop floor.
• Maintain awareness of stock items and assist in identifying opportunities to use existing inventory when appropriate.
• Review completed jobs and production feedback to improve future BOM accuracy, tooling planning, and quote consistency.

Assist with Manufacturing and Process Planning
• Identify machines, processes, materials, tooling, and shop resources required to complete each job in accordance with customer requirements.
• Assist in planning workflow, routing, and space requirements to improve manufacturing efficiency.
• Develop and support operational strategies to promote efficient production and on-time delivery.
• Create and implement work instructions from customer requirements when needed.
• Maintain awareness of current jobs on the shop floor and provide technical support as needed.
• Review active jobs to ensure quoted requirements align with production needs.

Assist Quality with Quality, Compliance, and Documentation
• Ensure job planning and quoted work account for applicable customer specifications, AS9100 requirements, inspection needs, traceability, and documentation requirements.
• Ensure manufacturing processes and job planning are in compliance with applicable standards, specifications, and regulations.
• Support audit readiness by helping ensure job requirements, BOMs, work instructions, and related documentation are clear, complete, and traceable.
• Identify potential quality risks, documentation gaps, and missing requirements before quote submission or production release.
• Work with quality, manufacturing, and leadership to resolve technical questions related to drawings, specifications, customer requirements, and job planning.

Qualifications & Work Experience:
To perform this job successfully, the candidate must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily, with or without an accommodation. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical field preferred. Recent engineering graduates are encouraged to apply.
• 0-3 years of experience in engineering, manufacturing, machining, estimating, quoting, or a related technical role preferred.
• Internship, academic project, shop, lab, machining, fabrication, manufacturing, or hands-on technical experience preferred.
• Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, specifications, customer requirements, purchase orders, and quality clauses.
• Strong interest in learning manufacturing processes, quoting, bills of material, tooling, job planning, and production support.
• Ability to identify material, hardware, outside processing, tooling, inspection, and production requirements with training and guidance.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to identify missing, unclear, or conflicting information.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with program managers, purchasing, manufacturing leads, quality, programming, and customers.
• Experience with Microsoft Office products, including Outlook, Excel, and SharePoint.
• AS9100 experience or working knowledge of aerospace quality requirements preferred, but not required.
• Working knowledge of common aerospace coatings and specifications, including chem film, anodize, primer, paint, dry film, or similar processes preferred.
• Working knowledge of common aerospace metals and plastics preferred.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and support quoting timelines in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Strong analytical, organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively as part of a team.
• Experience using JobBOSS, ProShop, UniPoint, SolidWorks, Mastercam, CNC equipment, inspection equipment, or ERP/QMS systems is a plus.

Mission and Values
Contribute to achievement of the Mission and Vision of our organization by:

Attention to Detail - The ability to accomplish a task while demonstrating a thorough concern for all the areas involved, no matter how small.

All In - Brings their whole self to work and gives it their all no matter how difficult the job or situation.

Accountable - Taking personal responsibility for their work, owns mistakes, communicates honestly rather than hiding the truth, does not blame others or make excuses.

Adaptable - Easily adjusts to changing circumstances.

Always Improving - A constant, ongoing effort to improve something. This “something” can be a product, a service, one’s skill set, or a team’s way of working.

Important Notes

Position Details: This is a full-time hourly non-exempt position, 40+ hours per week. This position is located onsite with no remote work available.

Schedule: This position is Monday-Friday, 7:00am - 3:30pm. Occasional weekends, overtime, and shift changes may be necessary from time to time in order to support Company goals, quoting deadlines, and production needs.

Pay: This pay does not include any opportunity for incentive compensation and is only reflective of the base pay for this position.

The range of pay for this California-based position is $30.00 - $40.00/hour.

Incentive Compensation: Potential for bonus/incentives after one full year of employment. A review of your performance will be conducted after 90 days on board.

Benefits and Perks: VetPowered makes available comprehensive benefits the 1st of the month, following the date of hire. Options include Medical with 50% employer contribution, dental and vision coverage with 100% employer contribution, Flexible Spending Account, Life Insurance, a 401k program with employer match up to $1,000 per year, 8 paid holidays, and paid time off.

Dress Code: This position has a relaxed dress code. Employees are expected to dress appropriately for a manufacturing environment, including wearing closed-toe shoes and any required personal protective equipment when working in or entering production areas. This role is not provided with uniforms.

Physical Requirements: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear.
The employee frequently is required to stand; sit; walk; use hands to finger, handle or feel; and reach with hands and arms. The employee is regularly required to push, move, lift or otherwise bear 10-30lbs. Applications may include but are not limited to repetitive work using a computer keyboard, mouse and headphones while sitting and/or standing at an assigned work desk area.
Work Environment: The employee works in a contract manufacturing facility in an urban industrial neighborhood. Other areas within the facility are mixed use such as administration, classrooms, welding, and machining areas.
Employee may have additional environmental hazards such as: chemical, electrical, flammable, or mechanical in nature.