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Salary: USD 160,000 - 260,000 / annual
CHAOS Industries is seeking an experienced Principal Mechanical Engineer to lead the design, development, and integration of advanced missile and UAV launcher systems. This role owns end-to-end mechanical design from concept development through production and sustainment of launcher systems supporting solid rocket motor effectors, turbine-powered UAVs, and electrically powered UAV systems across mobile ground and maritime platforms.
Key Responsibilities:
- Own mechanical architecture and integration of launcher systems across multiple platforms (ground and maritime)
- Define and manage mechanical and electro-mechanical interfaces between missile, canister, and platform
- Develop solutions for environmental protection and blast, plume, and thermal effects including gas management, shielding, and structural protection
- Ensure compliance with safety interlock requirements and launch sequencing constraints
- Design mechanical safing features and contribute to system-level hazard analyses
- Design and develop mechanisms and actuation systems for deployment, retention, and release
- Ensure compliance with relevant military standards
- Serve as primary technical hardware interface with customers, platform providers, suppliers, and manufacturing partners; perform make/buy assessments
- Collaborate across functions and provide technical management of subcontracts
- Conduct design reviews, trade studies, and failure mode analysis
- Support testing, integration, and field deployment activities
- Guide cross-disciplinary engineering efforts on deployable mechanical structures and mechanisms
The role is suited for engineers who thrive in fast-paced, hands-on environments and are comfortable owning hardware from concept through field deployment. This is a full-time, on-site position in Hawthorne, CA. Level (Principal vs Sr Principal) will be determined based on relevant technical and leadership experience.
COMPANY CONTEXT:
CHAOS Industries was founded in 2022 and has raised $1 billion in funding from leading investors including 8VC, Accel, and Valor Equity Partners. The company redefines modern defense with a multi-product portfolio powered by Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™), empowering warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams. Headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, and London. Currently 250+ employees.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Strong hands-on mechanical CAD and system integration experience
- Demonstrated launcher design and integration success
- Deep understanding of ruggedized hardware design
- Proven ability to work independently and guide cross-disciplinary engineering efforts
- Experience with prototyping, additive manufacturing, CNC machining, and other fabrication techniques
- Familiarity with military-style connectors (e.g., mil-circular 38999, ARINC, micro-D)
- Experience with finite element analysis (FEA) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for mechanical design validation
- Knowledge of mechanical design for extreme environments (thermal, vibration, shock, salt spray)
- Understanding of mechanical design for manufacturability and cost optimization
