Principal Manufacturing Engineer

ABOUT US Reframe Systems is a Physical AI and robotics company on a mission to make high-performance housing attainable and abundant in the communities where people want to live. Through our vertically integrated delivery model and highly automated microfactories, we deliver climate-resilient homes and buildings with greater speed and predictability than traditional construction. Our volumetric modular buildings are produced in our Andover, MA microfactory, with a growing pipeline across North America and a new microfactory on the way. We are building a system that balances repeatability with site-responsive design, enabling homes adaptable to each site, community, and customer need. Our cross-disciplinary team brings together architecture, robotics, design engineering, software, factory operations, and field delivery to change how housing gets delivered. We're reimagining the future of housing through a smarter and more sustainable system that empowers people to live better. Come build it with us. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR We are looking for a Principal Manufacturing Engineer to drive deep hands-on manufacturing engineering on our team- the person who turns the microfactory concept into a real, producing factory. You will own the manufacturing engineering of the physical build behind FAB1 (our first production microfactory): the equipment, workcells, mechanical and structural systems, material flow, and process engineering. Then you will capture what it took as a repeatable playbook we replicate across future factories. This is a senior individual-contributor role. Your leverage comes from depth of judgment and hands-on contribution. You will be on the floor commissioning equipment, running installs and acceptance testing, modeling throughput, authoring the trade-off and systems documents, and prototyping when it moves the build forward. You will set the technical bar through your own work and by mentoring the engineers around you, and there is room to grow into managing one or two engineers as the team scales. We want someone who is energized to be the strongest engineer in the building and stays in the work rather than running it from a desk. You will also be a technical voice for Manufacturing across a wide surface area. Robotics, design engineering, software, factory operations, and field delivery all come together at Reframe, and Manufacturing is one pillar of that. You bring clarity to ambiguous situations, coordinate across disciplines that don't naturally speak the same language, and close gaps before they turn into problems on the floor or on the schedule. RESPONSIBILITIES - Deliver FAB1 Hands-On: Own commissioning workstreams end to end, from equipment purchase and install through floor loading, leveling, utilities, and acceptance testing (FAT/SAT), taking the factory from concept to a working system handed to Operations. - Architect the Manufacturing System: Treat the physical factory as a manufacturing system with interacting subsystems and trade-offs, not a collection of machines. Design workcells, lines, and layouts, and make the system-level calls on how it all fits together. - Model Throughput: Model Takt time, OEE, and throughput from first principles or simulation (e.g., FlexSim, AnyLogic) to make real layout and capacity decisions. - Build the Playbook: Author the processes, standards, and documentation that let the next site replicate the build. Balance repeatability with the flexibility our site-responsive model requires, and design the build so the second and tenth factories go faster and cheaper than the first. - Set the Bar for Site Selection: Build the tools and define the manufacturing requirements to evaluate candidate buildings (floor loading, utilities, clear heights, dock and logistics access), while leaving construction of the building itself to others. - Own Capital Equipment: Manage procurement and install of capital equipment, driving vendors and integrators through FAT/SAT to a working, accept…