Lead Pre-Sales Engineer - CNC Machining
Leads a team of pre-sales applications engineers at Fathom, a US contract manufacturer, owning the technical and commercial strategy for complex CNC machining quotations for aerospace and defense customers — DFM discussions, cost modeling, pricing, NRE proposals, and technical handoff. Core expertise: CNC machining, GD&T, CAD, tooling, and inspection.
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- Hartland, WI, US
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Lead
- Employment
- Contract
- Experience
- Not specified
- Category
- Solutions engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, or related field, or equivalent precision-manufacturing experience
- Experience supporting aerospace and defense customers, including technical proposals and engagement with customer engineering and procurement teams
- Deep CNC applications engineering, estimating, or manufacturing engineering experience with machining methods, materials, GD&T, tooling, workholding, and inspection
- Proven technical selling and business development skills, including presenting solutions, addressing objections, and supporting negotiations
- Strong commercial judgment in manufacturing cost modeling, pricing, margin analysis, NRE development, and capital justification
- Experience leading engineering teams, managing competing priorities, and maintaining accountability for results
- Ability to interpret complex drawings and CAD models and communicate effectively with technical and commercial audiences
Full description
Company History:
Fathom is a premier U.S. contract manufacturer with a legacy of manufacturing innovation dating back more than 50 years. Across seven locations and a global sourcing network, we offer 25+ advanced technologies spanning additive manufacturing, CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, injection molding and more. We serve leading companies across aerospace and defense, medical, robotics, automotive, semiconductor, and data center and energy markets, delivering highly complex parts from concept through production. Our expert-driven approach, white-glove service, and extensive certifications help our customers scale with confidence.
The OpportunityFathom Manufacturing is seeking a customer-facing technical and commercial leader to support the growth of our aerospace and defense business. You will lead Pre-Sales Applications Engineers, personally guide complex opportunities, and translate customer requirements into competitive, profitable, and executable manufacturing proposals.
What You Will Do
- Lead, coach, and develop Applications Engineers while setting priorities and ensuring proposal quality, responsiveness, and accountability.
- Partner with Sales throughout discovery, opportunity qualification, technical presentations, negotiations, and closing activities.
- Engage customer engineering and procurement teams to understand requirements, timing, priorities, and manufacturing challenges.
- Own the technical strategy and completeness of complex CNC quotations, including materials, processes, cycle times, tooling, programming, outside processing, inspection, volumes, and delivery requirements.
- Lead proposal reviews, validate assumptions and risks, and partner with Sales and Finance on pricing, margins, and commercial positioning.
- Develop manufacturing concepts and lead customer-facing DFM discussions based on geometry, materials, tolerances, volume, capability, and execution risk.
- Develop NRE proposals and support capital investment business cases for tooling, engineering, qualification, equipment, and new capabilities.
- Identify quality, documentation, traceability, security, contractual, and customer-specific requirements during qualification and quoting.
- Lead the technical handoff of awarded work and use quote-to-actual results to improve future estimates and proposals.
What You Bring
- Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, or a related field, or equivalent precision-manufacturing experience.
- Experience supporting aerospace and defense customers, including technical proposals and engagement with customer engineering and procurement teams.
- Deep CNC applications engineering, estimating, or manufacturing engineering experience with machining methods, materials, GD&T, tooling, workholding, and inspection.