---
title: 'Machine Shop Manager at Antora Energy'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/machine-shop-manager-antora-energy-san-jose-6xsaem82b7db'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-21'
---

# Machine Shop Manager at Antora Energy

- **Company:** Antora Energy
- **Location:** San Jose, CA
- **Posted:** 2026-10-15
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-21
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/antora/jobs/6225424004

## Job description

Antora Energy delivers affordable, reliable energy to industry, data centers, and the grid. Our thermal batteries turn low-cost electricity into always-on heat and power, without supply-constrained critical minerals or multi-year construction timelines.

We are growing our company with people who put team and mission first, value connection through laughter and joy, and work with humility and openness. We are committed to building a diverse, passionate, and creative team dedicated to a future powered by abundant, clean, low-cost energy.

Position Summary

Antora Energy is seeking a Machine Shop Manager to lead the day-to-day operation of our in-house machining shop. We are expanding our in-house machining capacity in San Jose and in this role you will own how that shop runs. You will work closely with the R&D team as we bring new material into the world, and then report to our Director of Manufacturing Operations as we scale its production.

The shop runs large-format panel-processing and machining equipment (CNC routers and mills, panel saws, wide-belt sanders, wire saws, and track saws) on a material that produces fine, abrasive, electrically conductive carbon dust.

You will hire, train and lead machinists, execute the R&D and production schedule as its released, own floor safety and dust control, and own cost and throughput. The shop itself is being built out by a cross-functional project team spanning Manufacturing Engineering, Facilities, Supply Chain, and EHS&S; you will join early to provide expertise in layout, equipment selection, and commissioning, and you will take ownership of each machine as it is handed over. You will partner closely with materials development, mechanical design, operations, EHS&S, facilities, and procurement.  This is a hands-on leadership role.

Roles & Responsibilities

- Team leadership: Hire, onboard, train, and manage material handlers, manual and CNC machinists and operators. Establish shift plans, cross-training, a skills matrix, and performance expectations. Be the hands-on leader who can set up, run, and troubleshoot any machine in the shop.
- Production execution: Execute the released machining schedule. Own work order execution, setups, first-piece and in-process inspection, and scrap/rework disposition with Quality. Sequence work within the shift against the due dates and priorities set by Production Scheduling; escalate capacity, material, tooling, and equipment constraints the same shift. Report completions, downtime, and scrap accurately and on time. Hit schedule attainment and first-pass yield targets.
- Dust control and housekeeping: Execute the shop's dust-control program on the floor: housekeeping standards, PPE compliance, collector filter and hopper maintenance, daily monitoring checks, and waste handling. Escalate system or exposure issues to EHS&S and Facilities.
- Safety: Lead by example. Execute LOTO, run job and setup risk assessments, report and lead first-line investigation of near-misses and incidents, and make safety visible and routine on the floor.
- Equipment ownership: Take ownership of each machine from the earliest stages. Perform and enforce operator-level preventive maintenance; coordinate with Facilities & Equipment on higher-level maintenance and repairs; track uptime.
- Process discipline and quality: Execute released work instructions and control plans; red-line and drive revisions from floor feedback; manage tooling and consumables usage against standards; support first-article and in-process inspection with Quality.
- Cost and throughput: Own the operational cost levers including tool life, consumable usage, setup time, OEE, scrap. Report machining cost per Module and drive it down. Provide machine rates, available hours, and capability data to Production Scheduling and to make-vs-buy decisions.
- Build-out participation: Provide operator-side requirements to layout, equipment specifications, and acceptance criteria. Lead operator training during vendor commissioning. Participate in pre-startup safety reviews.
- Reporting and coordination: Provide regular status on throughput, yield, cost, safety, and risks to Manufacturing Operations leadership and, during the build-out, to the Program Lead. Be the machine shop's primary interface to Production Scheduling, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Facilities, Supply Chain, and EHS&S.

## Key Qualifications

- 6+ years hands-on in machining, fabrication, or panel processing, with 3+ years supervising or managing a production machining team or cell.
- Hands-on competence on CNC router/saw/sander-class equipment and/or CNC mills: can set up, run, and troubleshoot, including CAM programming and fixturing.
- Experience machining abrasive, dust-generating non-metallic materials (carbon/graphite, carbon-carbon, ceramics, composites, or engineered wood/MDF).
- Has worked under a formal dust-control and housekeeping program (collector maintenance, PPE, monitoring) in a production environment.
- Reads drawings with GD&T; competent with dimensional inspection tools and in-process inspection.
- Has owned operational metrics (OEE, scrap, tool life, schedule attainment) and used them to effectively drive continuous improvement.
- Clear communicator with engineers, technicians, vendors, and leadership.
- Willing to be onsite full time in San Jose, CA, and hands-on on the shop floor, including in dusty and PPE-required environments.

Additional Qualifications Desired

- Direct carbon/graphite machining experience; background at a graphite/carbon products manufacturer, composite fabricator, or precision non-metallic machine shop.
- Experience with CNC panel saws, wide-belt sanders, or wire saws.
- Participated in a new cell or line startup or in equipment commissioning.
- Has authored or maintained work instructions, control plans, or PM checklists.
- Lean manufacturing / continuous improvement; 5S.
- Experience in a startup or fast-scaling hardware manufacturing environment.
- Routine use of AI tools to accelerate CAM, fixture design, documentation, scheduling, and analysis.
- Exposure to thermal energy storage or adjacent energy technologies.

Work Location:  Onsite - San Jose, CA.   Periodic travel to supplier and partner sites should be expected.

Salary Range:  $125,000 USD - $180,000 USD

Salary Basis:  Annual

Please note that the salary range listed above reflects Antora Energy's estimated pay for this position. The actual salary offered will be within the posted range and determined based on several factors including but not limited to a candidate's experiences, credentials and expertise, as they pertain to the position's requirements.

In addition to a competitive base salary, Antora Energy’s Total Rewards program includes equity compensation in the form of stock options, a premium health benefits package with life and disability insurance, a 401K plan with employer contributions, flexible spending accounts, and an industry leading paid-time-off policy that features flexible and inclusive holiday observance, as well as paid volunteer time off.

#LI-Onsite https://diversityjobs.com/employer/top-diversity-employers?utm_campaign=TopEmployer&utm_medium=badge  When it comes to stopping climate change, we need everyone. We believe that having a diversity of backgrounds and experiences strengthens all of us, and we strive to create an environment where every one of us is empowered to create meaningful change.

## About Antora Energy

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Antora Energy manufactures and deploys modular thermal batteries that convert low-cost, intermittent clean electricity into reliable, always-on heat and power for global industrial facilities and data centers.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series B)
- **Headquarters**: San Jose, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2018
- **Founders**: Justin Briggs, Andrew Ponec, David Bierman

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Renewable Energy Power Generation, Thermal Energy Storage, Industrial Decarbonization
- **Target customers**: Large-scale industrial energy users (biofuels, refining, pulp & paper, steel & iron, chemicals, mining, concrete & lime, food & beverage) and data center operators (B2B, Enterprise).
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “We are here to power global industry with clean energy.” The company aims to make cheap, clean energy the standard that powers global industry.

## Products & Services
- **Thermal Battery System**: A modular, factory-built energy storage system that uses solid carbon (one of the safest, most stable materials on earth) to store surplus clean electricity as heat. It delivers always-on heat and power for industrial operations, scales from megawatts to gigawatts, and is designed for low cost, rapid deployment, and massive scale.
- **Project Big Stone**: One of the largest battery storage systems in the world, deployed in under 12 months for POET, the world’s largest biofuels producer. It delivers affordable, reliable energy and serves as a proof-of-concept for the company’s giga-scale deployment model.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available.
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of **$220.0M** across 10 rounds, including a $150M Series B led by Decarbonization Partners (Feb 2024). Annual revenue estimated at **$7.7M**.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Decarbonization Partners, National Science Foundation, California Energy Commission. Key partner: POET (biofuels).
- **Growth Signals**: 197 employees (+36.6% YoY), 31,700 LinkedIn followers (+42.9% YoY), active job postings up 140% YoY. The company is building gigawatt-hours of thermal batteries annually at its U.S. factory and has a presence in Spain.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proprietary Technology**: Uses solid carbon thermal storage—a simple, safe, and low-cost material—to provide both heat and power, differentiating from chemical battery or molten salt solutions.
- **Modular & Factory-Built**: Modules are manufactured in a U.S. factory, enabling rapid deployment, seamless integration, and operational redundancy at any scale.
- **Speed to Market**: Project Big Stone advanced from an empty lot to energy delivery in under 12 months, demonstrating a fast deployment model that can be replicated globally.
- **Multi-day Storage**: Provides reliable energy for industrial operations where downtime is not an option, solving the intermittency problem of renewables.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale and Replicate**: Replicating the Project Big Stone model at factories and data centers across the U.S. and globally.
- **Giga-scale Manufacturing**: Expanding factory capacity to produce gigawatt-hours of thermal batteries each year, with a focus on American manufacturing.
- **Market Expansion**: Targeting hard-to-abate industrial sectors (steel, cement, chemicals) and data centers, while expanding internationally (e.g., Spain).
- **Cost Leadership**: Driving down costs to make cheap, clean energy the standard for global industry.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-Driven Work**: The company’s north star is to power global industry with clean energy, offering employees a chance to work on one of the most urgent climate challenges.
- **Culture**: Values include “Build with Humility & Openness,” “Team & Mission First,” and “Joy & Laughter Connect Us.” The company emphasizes kindness, collaboration, and learning from setbacks.
- **Work Environment**: Hybrid/remote-friendly with “Home Week” each quarter to bring in-person and remote team members together. Offices in San Jose, CA; Big Stone City, SD; and remote roles in the U.S.
- **Benefits**: Competitive salary, stock options, 401k match, 16 weeks paid parental leave, comprehensive medical/vision/dental, HSA with employer contribution, subsidized backup childcare/senior care/petcare, mental health support, on-site gym, healthy snacks, and volunteer time off.
- **Engineering & Impact**: Teams work on cutting-edge thermal storage, manufacturing, and field engineering. The company is growing fast (36% headcount growth) and offers the chance to shape a new industry.

## Sources
1. [antora.com](https://www.antora.com/)
2. [antora.com/company](https://www.antora.com/company)
3. [antora.com/careers](https://www.antora.com/careers)
4. [linkedin.com/company/antora-energy](https://www.linkedin.com/company/antora-energy)
5. [cbinsights.com/company/antora-energy](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/antora-energy)

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