Manufacturing Engineering Planning

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.
CHAOS Industries was founded in 2022 and has raised a total of $1 billion in funding from leading investors, including 8VC, Accel, and Valor Equity Partners. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in Washington, D.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:

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.
Drive simplification of part counts, fastener strategy, interfaces, tolerances, and assembly flow.
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
Manufacturing readiness level (MRL) evaluations
Process capability analysis
Yield modeling and defect risk identification
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.
MBOM structures
Factory routing sequences
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
Design engineering
Quality
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 production rate models and capacity plans.
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.
• Tolerance stack-up analysis
• Manufacturing process capability concepts (Cp, Cpk)

Experience developing manufacturing documentation (MBOM, work instructions, process flows).
Experience scaling hardware to high-rate production.
Experience in low-cost/high-volume defense production environments.
Automated assembly systems
Composites fabrication
SOLIDWORKS or similar CAD tools
PLM systems (SOLIDWORKS PDM, Windchill, or equivalent)
Health Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision benefits 100% paid for by the company
Additional benefits: 401k (+ 50% company match up to 6% of pay), FSA, HSA, life insurance, and more
Our Perks: Free daily lunch, 'No meeting Fridays', unlimited PTO, casual dress code
Compensation Components: Competitive base salaries, generous pre-IPO stock option grants, relocation assistance, and (coming soon!) annual bonuses
The stated compensation range reflects only the targeted base compensation range and excludes additional earnings such as bonus, equity, and benefits. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations.
CHAOS Industries does not accept unsolicited resumes or outreach.