CNC Department Manager
Portland, OR
Full Time
CNC
Manager/Supervisor
You enter the shop in the morning, coffee in hand, and the place is already humming with possibility.
This isn’t a cabinet shop. It’s a playground for big ideas.
At Axiom Custom Products, we build the kinds of projects that make agencies, event producers, retailers, and construction teams say, “Wait… you can actually make that?” And then we do.
You walk through the CNC department into the CNC office and along the way encounter five sharp, fast-learning programmers and operators who genuinely love what they do. Along one wall sit three 3-axis Thermwood routers. On the other side of the shop, the 5-axis Royce stands ready for something ambitious. And next to it, like the overachiever it is, the 7-axis Kuka robot waits for its next challenge. Mastercam, PowerMill, Cabinet Vision—they’re just tools in the toolbox. What matters is how creatively you use them.
7:00am – The Game Plan
New projects are rolling in. A complex foam sculpture. Precision-cut plywood assemblies. Custom plastic components with tight deadlines. You gather the team. Not a stiff meeting, more like a tactical huddle. You look at the workload, the timelines, the strengths of each programmer. You match projects to people like a coach setting a lineup. You build a schedule that makes sense, but leaves room for real life. Because around here, real life means a client revision at 2:00pm and a wild idea at 3:00pm. Structure? Absolutely. Rigidity? Never.
8:30am – on the Floor
One of the operators flags you down. A toolpath needs refinement to cut time without sacrificing quality. You roll up your sleeves and work through it together. You’re not a sidelines manager, you are hands-on, a working manager. You’ve run 3-axis routers. You know feeds and speeds. You understand wood grain, foam density, and how plastics behave when they heat up. You teach while you troubleshoot. You ask questions. You push them to think one step ahead. And when something truly unusual comes through? Sometimes the answer isn’t in a manual. It’s in testing a one-off solution and being brave enough to try.
10:00pm – Big Picture Mode
Before lunch, you’re meeting with the Head of Manufacturing. You’re talking capacity. Resource allocation. Upcoming deadlines. ERP alignment. Where the department needs tightening up and where it needs more freedom. Management looks to you to shape how CNC operates not just today, but six months from now.
You’re thinking about:
• Cross-training so no one gets boxed into one machine
• Smarter scheduling to hit labor-hour targets.
• Data management that’s as dialed in as the tooling
• Continuous improvement, not because someone told you to, but because you’re wired that way
1:00pm – Coaching Moments
You check progress. A job’s running behind. Not dramatically, but enough to matter. You don’t panic. You adjust. You shift resources, coach through bottlenecks, and help the team recalibrate. Accountability here isn’t about blame, it’s about growth. The standard is high, and everyone knows it. Because you set it. And you live it, but with positivity.
5:30pm – The Win
Parts are cut clean. On time. Within labor-hour constraints. Organized and labeled. Ready for the floor. More importantly? The team feels good. They learned something. They solved problems. They care about the bottom line because they understand it. And they want to be here tomorrow. That’s success.
And then you head home. Because while we work hard at Axiom, we believe health and family come first. We ask for your focus and commitment during the day, and in return we offer a rewarding career with balance: competitive salary, paid holidays, 401k and ROTH 401k investment options, subsidized medical and voluntary dental and vision coverage (with additional cost options for dependents), and four weeks of PTO starting in year two.
If you’ve been translating complex client specs for one-of-a-kind projects into parts to be precision-built,, we’d love to hear your story. Come collaborate with a fun, passionate team. Submit your application along with a bit about why the job intrigues you and how you’d be a good fit in the “cover letter” section. Nothing too formal. We look forward to hearing from you!
This isn’t a cabinet shop. It’s a playground for big ideas.
At Axiom Custom Products, we build the kinds of projects that make agencies, event producers, retailers, and construction teams say, “Wait… you can actually make that?” And then we do.
You walk through the CNC department into the CNC office and along the way encounter five sharp, fast-learning programmers and operators who genuinely love what they do. Along one wall sit three 3-axis Thermwood routers. On the other side of the shop, the 5-axis Royce stands ready for something ambitious. And next to it, like the overachiever it is, the 7-axis Kuka robot waits for its next challenge. Mastercam, PowerMill, Cabinet Vision—they’re just tools in the toolbox. What matters is how creatively you use them.
7:00am – The Game Plan
New projects are rolling in. A complex foam sculpture. Precision-cut plywood assemblies. Custom plastic components with tight deadlines. You gather the team. Not a stiff meeting, more like a tactical huddle. You look at the workload, the timelines, the strengths of each programmer. You match projects to people like a coach setting a lineup. You build a schedule that makes sense, but leaves room for real life. Because around here, real life means a client revision at 2:00pm and a wild idea at 3:00pm. Structure? Absolutely. Rigidity? Never.
8:30am – on the Floor
One of the operators flags you down. A toolpath needs refinement to cut time without sacrificing quality. You roll up your sleeves and work through it together. You’re not a sidelines manager, you are hands-on, a working manager. You’ve run 3-axis routers. You know feeds and speeds. You understand wood grain, foam density, and how plastics behave when they heat up. You teach while you troubleshoot. You ask questions. You push them to think one step ahead. And when something truly unusual comes through? Sometimes the answer isn’t in a manual. It’s in testing a one-off solution and being brave enough to try.
10:00pm – Big Picture Mode
Before lunch, you’re meeting with the Head of Manufacturing. You’re talking capacity. Resource allocation. Upcoming deadlines. ERP alignment. Where the department needs tightening up and where it needs more freedom. Management looks to you to shape how CNC operates not just today, but six months from now.
You’re thinking about:
• Cross-training so no one gets boxed into one machine
• Smarter scheduling to hit labor-hour targets.
• Data management that’s as dialed in as the tooling
• Continuous improvement, not because someone told you to, but because you’re wired that way
1:00pm – Coaching Moments
You check progress. A job’s running behind. Not dramatically, but enough to matter. You don’t panic. You adjust. You shift resources, coach through bottlenecks, and help the team recalibrate. Accountability here isn’t about blame, it’s about growth. The standard is high, and everyone knows it. Because you set it. And you live it, but with positivity.
5:30pm – The Win
Parts are cut clean. On time. Within labor-hour constraints. Organized and labeled. Ready for the floor. More importantly? The team feels good. They learned something. They solved problems. They care about the bottom line because they understand it. And they want to be here tomorrow. That’s success.
And then you head home. Because while we work hard at Axiom, we believe health and family come first. We ask for your focus and commitment during the day, and in return we offer a rewarding career with balance: competitive salary, paid holidays, 401k and ROTH 401k investment options, subsidized medical and voluntary dental and vision coverage (with additional cost options for dependents), and four weeks of PTO starting in year two.
If you’ve been translating complex client specs for one-of-a-kind projects into parts to be precision-built,, we’d love to hear your story. Come collaborate with a fun, passionate team. Submit your application along with a bit about why the job intrigues you and how you’d be a good fit in the “cover letter” section. Nothing too formal. We look forward to hearing from you!
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