Manufacturing Engineer

Manufacturing EngineerTorrance, California, United StatesNeros is a defense technology company rebuilding America's drone industrial base. We design and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are tested in combat, iterated at startup speed, and built at massive scale. Our team culture is fast, hands-on, and obsessed with closing the gap between design and deployment.As drones transform the character of warfare, Neros is delivering the systems the West needs to compete on the modern battlefield and deter the adversaries of democracy. We're hiring engineers, operators, and builders who want to move fast, take on extreme ownership, and get capability into the hands of warfighters in months, not years.We build drones at scale. We're looking for a Manufacturing Engineer to own how they actually get made. You will decide how each assembly is built: the fixture, the joint, the torque spec, the test that proves it good. Then you'll prove those decisions out with data before they carry production volume.This is a floor-first role. You'll spend your days next to the line, not above it. When a station goes down, you're the first call. When a defect keeps coming back, you root-cause it and kill it for good. When the design fights the build, you push manufacturability back upstream into the design until it doesn't fight back. You are the first point of contact for engineering decisions on hardware moving through your processes, and the last line of defense between a bad process and a thousand bad units.If you'd rather solve problems at the station with a caliper and a laptop than watch them from a conference room, this is your role.Line Support & TriageFirst technical responder for line-down and slowdown events; diagnose, contain, restoreTroubleshoot tooling, fixtures, jigs, and station equipment issuesDistinguish process problems from training problems from design problems, and drive fixes accordinglySupport production supervisors with real-time technical calls during the shiftProcess OwnershipOwn work instructions and standard work for assigned stations; keep them accurate and currentDrive cycle time reduction, line balancing, and station-level improvements with productionDesign, build, and iterate fixtures and tooling to improve repeatability and speedValidate and release process changes through proper change control (ECR/ECO)Qualify new and changed processes against clear acceptance criteria: first article, capability studiesRoot Cause AnalysisLead root cause analysis on recurring defects and escapes; drive corrective actions to verified closurePartner with quality on FPY improvement, defect containment, and dispositionTranslate failure data into process or tooling fixes, not just retrainingNew Product & ScalingSupport NPI builds: process planning, station setup, first article supportFeed producibility and DFM input back to design engineering before releaseData & KPIsDefine and own station-level KPIs (yield, cycle time, downtime, scrap); use them to prioritize and drive measurable improvementYou should have the followingBachelor's degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial, or a related engineering field2+ years as a manufacturing, process, or industrial engineer in a hardware production environmentHands-on line support experience; comfortable being the first call when things breakProven root cause skills with examples of corrective actions driven to verified closureStrong floor presence; communicates clearly with technicians, executives, and product engineersNice to HaveFixture and tooling design experience, with CAD proficiency (SolidWorks or similar)Electronics or electromechanical assembly experienceExperience taking a product from NPI through DVT/PVT into sustained productionHigh-mix, high-cadence manufacturing where the design changes regularlyFamiliarity with factory automation, machine vision, robotics, or custom equipmentWorking knowledge of lean fundamentals: cycle & takt time, line balancing, 5SExperience creating and maintaining work orders, process plans, and mBOMs in MES/ERPUnderstanding of how to create a PFMEA and turn it into a quality verification planStartup or high-growth background; experience scaling output or standing up new linesUS Salary Range $123,500-$215,000 USDThe salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are considered part of Neros' total compensation package.We're an equal opportunity employer. We welcome all applicants without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.