SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Salary: USD 146,000 - 194,000 / annual
Anduril Industries, a defense technology company, seeks a Senior DFx Engineer to drive design for manufacturability, assembly, and cost across mechanical, structural, thermal management, and fluid systems subsystems for autonomous aircraft, cruise missiles, and loitering munitions.
You will bring specialty expertise in at least one domain: mechanical structures and assemblies, thermal/heat transfer systems, or fluid systems (fuel, hydraulic, pneumatic). Your primary focus is manufacturability, assembly, and cost optimization. You will work directly with manufacturing engineers and design engineers to evaluate producibility, negotiate design trades, and drive improvements that make hardware buildable and cost-effective.
Key responsibilities include:
- Execute DFx analysis across mechanical, structural, thermal, and fluid systems subsystems, focusing on manufacturability, assembly, and cost.
- Participate in and help lead DFM/DFA/DFC reviews at key design milestones, applying rigorous scoring to identify producibility and cost risks.
- Participate in and help lead/facilitate DFMEAs with cross-functional teams, using outputs to drive design changes, inspection strategies, and control plans.
- Work with SME manufacturing and design engineers to evaluate designs, translate manufacturing constraints into actionable feedback, and support design trades.
- Support selection and qualification of contract manufacturers for machined components, fabrications, composite structures, thermal hardware, and fluid system assemblies.
- Participate in supplier manufacturing assessments including facility reviews, process audits, and capability evaluations.
- Contribute to should-cost models and cost-driver analyses for mechanical and fluid system assemblies.
- Develop and maintain DFx standards, guidelines, and scorecards specific to mechanical manufacturing processes (CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, welding, brazing, composite layup, tube bending, mechanical assembly).
- Analyze designs across manufacturability, cost structure, specification adherence, process capability, and technology maturity to contribute to quantified risk assessments.
- Evaluate thermal management and fluid system designs for producibility, including tube routing, fitting selection, seal and joint design, heat exchanger fabrication, and cleanliness requirements.
- Partner with supply chain to align DFx requirements with sourcing strategy.
- Collaborate with quality engineering to ensure DFx findings flow into inspection plans and supplier quality requirements.
- Close the loop between production floor feedback, supplier performance data, and upstream design improvements.
- Contribute to the DFx toolkit including templates, scoring rubrics, cost models, lessons-learned databases, and training materials.
- Travel to production sites, contract manufacturers, and supplier facilities (~20%).
REQUIREMENTS:
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or related field.
- 8+ years of experience in manufacturing engineering, producibility engineering, or DFx with significant focus on mechanical systems, thermal management, or fluid systems, with specialty expertise in at least one domain.
- Strong working knowledge of mechanical manufacturing processes: CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, welding, brazing, composite layup and cure, bonding, casting, forging, and complex mechanical assembly.
- Experience participating in or leading DFM/DFA reviews and translating findings into measurable design improvements that reduce cost and improve producibility.
- Experience supporting contract manufacturer evaluations, including facility assessments, process capability reviews, or production readiness evaluations.
- Understanding of cost drivers in mechanical and fluid system production, with exposure to should-cost modeling or cost analysis.
- Ability to read and critically evaluate mechanical drawings, GD&T, 3D models, and assembly documentation for producibility and cost impact.
- Working knowledge of relevant standards and specifications for aerospace mechanical and fluid systems.
- Proven ability to work cross-functionally across design engineering, manufacturing engineering, supply chain, quality, and operations.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including ability to present DFx and cost findings to engineering teams and drive alignment on design changes.
- Comfortable working across multiple programs simultaneously in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
- Personal experience in a machine shop, fabrication shop, or on a production floor working with mechanical hardware.
- Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export controlled information or facilities.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Master's degree in engineering or related field.
- Specialty expertise in two or more of: mechanical structures, thermal/heat transfer systems, fuel systems, hydraulic systems.
- Experience in aerospace or defense mechanical production, particularly with qualified or flight-critical hardware.
- Familiarity with AS9100/AS9102 quality management systems and First Article Inspection processes.
- Experience with composite manufacturing (autoclave cure, out-of-autoclave, RTM) and associated DFM considerations.
- Proficiency in CAD software (NX, CATIA, SolidWorks, or similar) sufficient to review designs independently.
- Background in Design of Experiments (DOE), statistical process control, or Six Sigma applied to mechanical manufacturing.
- Experience with value engineering or formal cost reduction programs in a production environment.
- Currently possesses and is able to maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance with Full-Scope Polygraph.
