Manufacturing Engineer
Detroit, MI (in-person)
About Grounded
Grounded is a 25-person Detroit-based startup building modular electric platforms for specialty vehicles. We take cab chassis from OEMs like Ford and Harbinger and build configurable vehicle systems on top, serving mobile healthcare, RVs, command centers, food and beverage, pet care, and more. Our customers include Colgate, Nokia, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and Portland PD. We've raised ~$5M in VC funding and are shipping vehicles in market today.
We also build our own software: a mobile app, fleet dashboard, and onboard computer system that lets customers monitor and control vehicle systems remotely. We design, fabricate, and assemble everything in-house at our facility in Corktown.
The Role
We're hiring a Manufacturing Engineer to own the connection between engineering and the production floor. Every vehicle we build runs through this role: you are the person our technicians come to with every question about what they're building, you turn engineering CAD into the work instruction drawings the floor builds from, and you own every build schedule in the shop.
Let's be direct about what this job is, because it matters. This is not a design engineering role, and it's not a quiet back-office process role either. It is execution: coordinating people, answering questions in real time, producing build documentation, and driving schedules - relentlessly. You'll be in CAD every day, but to make work instructions, not new designs. If you want to spend your days heads-down modeling parts, this is the wrong job. If you want to be the person the entire factory runs through - the one who knows the state of every build, keeps every technician unblocked, and makes ship dates real - this is the job.
One more thing we won't sugarcoat: this role is intense. The build schedule is the heartbeat of the company, and you own it. That means pushing the pace every single day - chasing open items, holding people to commitments, escalating slips the hour they happen, and never letting "we'll get to it" stand. We need a driver. The right person reads that and gets excited.
What you'd actually do
Be the first call for every technician question on the floor - what part goes where, what the drawing means, what to do when reality doesn't match CAD. You answer on the spot or run the answer down from engineering fast
Create and maintain work instruction drawings from engineering CAD (Siemens NX) for every assembly on every vehicle, and keep them current as designs change
Own all build schedules end to end: sequence the work, set daily targets, track progress against them, and hold everyone - technicians and engineers alike - accountable to dates
Run the daily drumbeat of the floor: build status reviews, catching problems before they become delays, escalating and unblocking the moment something slips
Be the two-way channel between engineering and manufacturing - feed manufacturability problems and floor feedback into design, and drive engineering fixes to closure instead of letting them sit
Walk the floor constantly. This job is done standing next to the vehicles, not at a desk
Improve how we build: better documentation standards, better build sequences, better handoffs from engineering to the floor
What we're looking for
3+ years in manufacturing, production, or process engineering in an environment that physically builds things - automotive, RV, commercial vehicles, aerospace, or industrial equipment
Strong, current CAD fluency (NX preferred; SolidWorks/CATIA with willingness to learn NX works) - you can navigate complex vehicle assemblies and produce clear 2D drawings and work instructions from them
Relentless follow-through. You chase every open item to closure, you're comfortable applying pressure and being direct with people every day, and you don't need anyone to tell you to do it
High motor. You thrive under sustained intensity and a schedule that never stops mattering - and you find that energizing, not draining
Strong communicator in both directions: you can talk shop with technicians and talk engineering with engineers, and both trust you
Genuinely organized: you can hold the state of a dozen concurrent builds in your head and in a schedule that everyone believes
Startup fit: comfortable with ambiguity, zero bureaucracy, and owning outcomes rather than tasks
Nice-to-haves
Vehicle upfitting, RV, or specialty vehicle manufacturing experience
Experience creating work instructions or shop-floor documentation systems from scratch
Hands-on trade skills (electrical, plumbing, carpentry, fabrication) - enough to earn the floor's respect quickly
Experience with production scheduling or MES tools
Lean manufacturing / continuous improvement background
Compensation
Competitive base salary + meaningful equity in Grounded + comprehensive health insurance
Why this role is different
Most manufacturing engineering jobs give you a slice of a process someone else designed. This one gives you the whole factory's tempo. You'll know every vehicle in the shop, every technician will run their questions through you, and every ship date will be one you drove. It's one of the highest-leverage seats in the company - when you're good, the entire building moves faster - and you'll do it working directly with the leadership team in a shop where the vehicles you pushed out the door are on the road with real customers weeks later.