Nate Hepler

Head of Manufacturing

Nate Hepler is a seasoned engineering and operations leader who now leads Manufacturing at Boom Supersonic. With a foundation in aerospace manufacturing, test engineering, and mechanisms development, Nate brings a rare blend of hands-on technical expertise and organizational leadership to scaling Boom’s hardware capabilities. Nate currently serves as Head of Manufacturing, where he oversees manufacturing engineering, machine shops, facilities, and production operations across the company. In this role, he is responsible for building the infrastructure, teams, and processes required to develop and produce advanced aerospace hardware, while driving strategic decisions around vertical integration, supplier partnerships, and manufacturing readiness. Before stepping into manufacturing leadership, Nate led Talent Acquisition at Boom, where he oversaw hiring strategy, workforce planning, and technical recruiting during a period of rapid growth. His deep engineering background enabled him to partner closely with technical leaders to build high-performing teams across propulsion, structures, manufacturing, and test. Earlier in his career at Boom, Nate held multiple technical roles, including Manager of Test Engineering, where he led teams responsible for component- and system-level testing in support of major propulsion and airframe milestones. He also served as Lead Manufacturing Engineer and Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineer, contributing directly to the design, fabrication, and integration of complex aerospace hardware on XB-1. Prior to Boom, Nate spent four years at SpaceX as a Manufacturing Engineer across several high-impact programs. His work spanned manufacturing engineering for Falcon and Starship mechanisms, supporting both new product introduction and production efforts. He began at SpaceX as a manufacturing intern supporting Falcon 9 subassemblies. Nate holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering / Aerospace Engineering from Boston University. His background across engineering, test, talent, and manufacturing uniquely positions him to lead Boom’s manufacturing organization as the company scales toward supersonic flight.