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Salary: USD 129,000 - 171,000 / annual
Anduril Industries, a defense technology company, is seeking a DFx (Design for Manufacturability/Assembly/Cost) Manufacturing Engineer to join the Air Dominance & Strike (AD&S) Manufacturing Engineering team. This role supports design for manufacturability, assembly, and cost analysis across avionics, electronics, wiring, and harnessing subsystems for autonomous aircraft, cruise missiles, and loitering munitions.
Working under the guidance of Staff and Senior DFx Engineers, you will evaluate designs through the lenses of manufacturability, assembly, and cost—the three factors that determine whether hardware can be produced at rate by qualified suppliers at affordable price points. You will collaborate with subject matter expert manufacturing engineers and design engineers to build technical judgment and cross-functional relationships that make DFx effective.
Key responsibilities include:
- Support DFx analysis across avionics, electronics, wiring, and harnessing subsystems, focusing on manufacturability, assembly, and cost
- Participate in structured DFM/DFA/DFC reviews at key design milestones, identifying producibility and cost risks and recommending design changes
- Work with manufacturing and design engineers to provide feedback on designs and translate constraints into actionable recommendations
- Support evaluation and qualification of contract manufacturers through facility reviews, process audits, and capability assessments
- Build and maintain should-cost models and cost-driver analyses for electronics and harnessing assemblies
- Develop and maintain DFx standards, guidelines, and scorecards specific to electronics manufacturing processes (SMT, wave/selective solder, conformal coating, potting, wire harness fabrication, box-build assembly)
- Analyze designs across manufacturability, assembly, cost structure, specification adherence, process capability, and technology maturity
- Collaborate with supply chain to understand how DFx requirements connect to sourcing strategy and supplier selection
- Work with quality engineering to translate DFx findings into inspection plans, acceptance criteria, and supplier quality requirements
- Spend time on production floors and at supplier sites to build firsthand understanding of electronics and harness manufacturing
- Contribute to DFx toolkit development including templates, scoring rubrics, cost models, lessons-learned databases, and training materials
- Travel to production sites, contract manufacturers, and supplier facilities (~20% depending on business needs)
This is an inherently cross-functional role requiring daily collaboration with supply chain, quality, operations, program teams, mechanical engineers, and design engineers. You will grow quickly in a fast-paced environment where programs move rapidly, hardware is real, and the impact of your work is visible on the production floor and in cost models.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or related field
- 5 years of experience in manufacturing engineering, process engineering, or related role with exposure to electronics, avionics, wiring, or harnessing (co-op, internship, or capstone project experience in manufacturing environment counts)
- Foundational knowledge of electronics and/or harnessing manufacturing processes: SMT, soldering, conformal coating, wire harness fabrication, or electromechanical assembly
- Ability to read electrical schematics, PCB layouts, and harness drawings with an eye toward producibility
- Interest in understanding manufacturing cost drivers and how design decisions impact unit cost
- Familiarity with IPC standards (IPC-A-610, J-STD-001, IPC-620) or willingness to learn and apply them quickly
- Strong communication skills and willingness to engage directly with design engineers, manufacturing engineers, quality, supply chain, and operations
- Comfort working in fast-paced environment across multiple programs simultaneously
- Genuine interest in manufacturing and drive to understand how things are built and what they cost to produce; personal experience with soldering, harness build, assembly, or personal projects is a strong plus
- World-class mission assurance, quality, attention to detail, and dedication
- Self-motivated and proactive; takes initiative, asks good questions, and closes the loop on commitments
- Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export controlled information or facilities
