Manufacturing Engineer - Effectors

Manufacturing Engineer - Effectors

CHAOS Industries is redefining modern defense with a multi-product portfolio that gives the ultimate advantage—domain dominance. The company's products are powered by Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™), empowering warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams to act faster, adapt rapidly, and stay ahead of evolving threats.

We are seeking a Manufacturing Engineer focused on Design for Manufacturing & Assembly (DFMA), producibility engineering, and transition-to-production execution for low-cost interceptor systems.

This role will partner directly with Product Engineering from early concept development through full-rate production, ensuring interceptor designs are:

• Producible at scale
• Cost-optimized for high-rate builds
• Robust to supply chain variability
• Architected for automated and semi-automated assembly

You will serve as the manufacturing authority embedded within the development lifecycle — driving design trades, quantifying cost impacts, maturing production processes, and enabling rapid ramp to rate production.

• Design for Manufacturing & Assembly (DFMA)
  • Lead structured DFMA reviews during concept, PDR, CDR, and pre-production phases.
  • Quantify cost, cycle time, yield, and tooling impacts of design decisions.
  • Drive simplification of part counts, fastener strategy, interfaces, tolerances, and assembly flow.
  • Evaluate tolerance stack-ups and GD&T schemes for manufacturability and yield.
  • Develop assembly sequencing strategies optimized for rate and takt time.
  • Influence material selection, joining methods, and fabrication methods for cost and scalability.
• Producibility & Cost Engineering
  • Perform detailed producibility assessments including:
  • Manufacturing readiness level (MRL) evaluations
  • Process capability analysis
  • Yield modeling and defect risk identification
  • Develop bottoms-up cost models for hardware builds.
  • Conduct make vs. buy analyses in collaboration with supply chain.
  • Identify capital equipment and tooling requirements for rate production.
  • Quantify production rate sensitivities and bottlenecks.
• Transition to Production (TTP)
  • Own manufacturing planning from prototype through LRIP and FRP.
  • Develop:
    • MBOM structures
    • Work instructions
    • Factory routing sequences
    • Tooling concepts
    • Test process definitions
  • Support pilot builds and process validation activities.
  • Lead root cause analysis of build escapes and yield losses.
  • Drive closure of production readiness action items prior to rate ramp.
  • Support First Article Inspection (FAI) and production qualification.
• Factory & Supplier Integration
  • Interface with:
    • Design engineering
    • Quality
    • Supply chain
    • Test engineering
    • Operations leadership
  • Provide hands-on floor support during initial builds and ramp events.
  • Travel to suppliers to resolve producibility issues and validate readiness.
  • Develop scalable supplier engagement models for high-volume components.
• Continuous Improvement & Rate Scaling
  • Develop production rate models and capacity plans.
  • Implement automation, poka-yoke, and error-proofing strategies.
  • Analyze metrics (yield, cycle time, cost, rework, escapes).
  • Drive corrective and preventive actions (CAPA).
  • Support digital manufacturing tools (MES, PLM, ERP).

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or related STEM field.
• 5+ years experience in aerospace, defense, automotive, or high-rate electromechanical production.
• Demonstrated experience in DFMA implementation.
• Experience transitioning hardware from development into production.
• Working knowledge of:
  • GD&T (ASME Y14.5)
  • Tolerance stack-up analysis
  • Root cause methodologies (8D, RCCA, Fishbone, etc.)
  • Manufacturing process capability concepts (Cp, Cpk)
• Experience developing manufacturing documentation (MBOM, work instructions, process flows).
• U.S. Citizenship required; ability to obtain and maintain DoD clearance.

• Experience with missile, interceptor, UAV, or guided munition systems.
• Experience scaling hardware to high-rate production.
• Experience in low-cost/high-volume defense production environments.
• Familiarity with:
  • Automated assembly systems
  • Robotic integration
  • Composites fabrication
  • Harness/PCBA integration
• Experience…