Freelance Machine Shop Manager Jobs in California

The Director, Machine Shop is accountable for operating and scaling Atomic Machines' prototype machine shop as a high-performing internal manufacturing business and strategic engineering capability.

This role owns customer delivery, demand intake, capacity planning, scheduling, staffing, safety, quality, equipment reliability, operating cost, and continuous improvement. The Senior Manager establishes the systems and operating cadence required to convert changing engineering demand into realistic commitments and predictable execution.

The role is the primary operating interface between the shop and Engineering, Program Management, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Quality, Facilities, Safety, and Finance. The successful candidate must resolve competing priorities, communicate tradeoffs clearly, and maintain trust in a high-mix prototype environment.

Strong technical credibility across machining, CAM, DFM, GD&T, metrology, tooling, workholding, and fabrication is required. The primary expectation, however, is to lead the business and organization-not to be the default machinist or programmer.

Run the Machine Shop as an Internal Business

• Own shop performance across delivery, schedule attainment, safety, quality, staffing, cost, and equipment availability.
• Establish clear intake requirements, prioritization rules, service expectations, commitment standards, and escalation paths.
• Maintain a visible backlog and executable schedule with clear priorities, dates, constraints, owners, and recovery plans.
• Serve as the primary operating interface with internal customers and communicate feasibility, lead time, risks, and tradeoffs early.
• Resolve priority conflicts based on company and program objectives.

Own Capacity Planning and Scheduling

• Translate prototype, NPI, repeat, and production-support demand into realistic machine, labor, programming, setup, inspection, and outside-processing plans.
• Maintain rolling capacity plans that account for machine capability, personnel skills, job readiness, maintenance, training, material, and technical risk.
• Identify bottlenecks and improve estimates using planned-versus-actual performance.
• Protect capacity for maintenance, training, process development, and urgent prototype demand.
• Establish disciplined expedite rules that make displaced work and business impact visible.

Build the Operating System

• Create clear processes for intake, readiness review, estimating, prioritization, scheduling, execution, inspection, and customer communication.
• Standardize workflows across CAM, machining, tooling, inspection, inventory, maintenance, documentation, and vendor work.
• Establish daily execution, customer priority, capacity, and performance reviews.
• Track schedule attainment, on-time delivery, backlog, lead time, utilization, yield, rework, scrap, overtime, and equipment reliability.
• Lead corrective actions for recurring delivery, quality, equipment, and workflow failures.
• Convert successful solutions into standards, templates, training, and reusable processes.

Improve Capability, Throughput, and Cost

• Improve turnaround time, schedule predictability, quality, utilization, and engineering responsiveness.
• Address constraints through changes to layout, workflow, staffing, shifts, tooling, equipment, inspection, and support processes.
• Manage tooling, consumables, maintenance, calibration, outside services, operating expenses, and approved capital.
• Make informed make-versus-buy decisions based on urgency, capability, cost, quality, IP, learning value, and risk.
• Develop business cases for equipment, automation, software, staffing, shifts, and facility improvements.
• Ensure investments deliver their intended operating results.

Strengthen DFM and Technical Quality

• Build effective collaboration between machinists, programmers, and engineers.
• Establish lightweight DFM and job-readiness reviews based on part complexity and risk.
• Partner with Engineering to improve drawing quality, tolerance definition, material selection, manufacturability, and release readiness.
• Ensure machining, workholding, inspection, and process risks are identified before commitments are made.
• Maintain enough technical depth to challenge estimates and evaluate feasibility while using senior technical experts appropriately.
• Capture lessons learned in future designs, processes, standards, and training.

Develop People and Leadership Depth

• Lead supervisors, leads, machinists, programmers, and support personnel.
• Own staffing, hiring, onboarding, performance management, development, succession, and retention.
• Establish clear roles, decision rights, expectations, and escalation behaviors.
• Build skill matrices and development plans for critical machines, programming, inspection, and leadership coverage.
• Develop supervisors and technical leaders capable of independently managing execution.
• Address underperformance and conflict directly and fairly.
• Build a culture of accountability, craftsmanship, safety, customer service, teamwork, and continuous improvement.
• Balance workload and overtime to support sustainable performance.

• 10+ years of experience in machining, prototype manufacturing, advanced hardware operations, or a related environment.
• 5+ years of direct people-management experience in a machine shop or comparable technical operation.
• Demonstrated experience running or scaling a high-mix prototype or advanced R&D manufacturing environment.
• Proven ownership of demand intake, capacity planning, scheduling, prioritization, customer commitments, and operating performance.
• Strong working knowledge of CNC machining, multi-axis and mill-turn processes, CAM, tooling, workholding, GD&T, metrology, inspection, fabrication, and secondary processes.
• Practical understanding of how material, geometry, tolerance, quantity, design maturity, and inspection affect cost, lead time, capacity, and risk.
• Experience managing metrics, budgets, equipment procurement, maintenance, tooling, outside services, and capital investments.
• Demonstrated success improving delivery, lead time, utilization, productivity, quality, or cost.
• Experience with make-versus-buy decisions and external machining suppliers.
• Strong customer-management and cross-functional communication skills.
• Proven ability to partner with Engineering on DFM, drawing readiness, tolerance decisions, and prototype execution.
• Deep people-leadership experience, including hiring, coaching, performance management, conflict resolution, succession, and development of leads or supervisors.
• Ability to communicate from shop-floor detail through senior leadership reviews and written business cases.
• Sound judgment in an environment with incomplete information, changing designs, urgent requests, and competing priorities.
• Education or training in engineering, manufacturing, machining, operations, or a related discipline preferred; equivalent experience considered.