Senior DFx Engineer, Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Andurils Air Dominance & Strike (AD&S) Manufacturing Engineering team is seeking a Senior DFx Engineer to drive design for manufacturability assembly and cost across our mechanical structural thermal management and fluid systems (fuel hydraulics pneumatics) subsystems. This role spans our full portfolio of autonomous aircraft cruise missiles and loitering munitions ensuring that design decisions account for how hardware will be built by whom and at what cost.
You will bring specialty expertise in at least one of the following domains: mechanical structures and assemblies thermal/heat transfer systems or fluid systems including fuel hydraulic and pneumatic architectures. Your primary focus areas are manufacturability assembly and cost. You will work directly with subject matter expert (SME) manufacturing engineers and design engineers to evaluate producibility negotiate design trades and drive improvements that make hardware buildable and cost-effective.
A key part of this role is supporting the selection and qualification of contract manufacturers assessing supplier capabilities against DFx requirements and helping ensure that external production partners can deliver to the quality rate and cost targets our programs demand. This is an inherently cross-functional role: you will work daily with supply chain quality operations and program teams in addition to ME and DE.

• Execute DFx analysis across mechanical structural thermal and fluid systems subsystems for AD&S programs with a primary focus on manufacturability assembly and cost.
• Participate in and help lead structured DFM/DFA/DFC reviews at key design milestones applying rigorous scoring to identify producibility and cost risks and drive design changes before they reach production.
• Participate in and help lead/facilitate DFMEAs with cross-functional teams. Use FMEA outputs to drive design changes inspection strategies and control plans.
• Work directly with SME manufacturing engineers and design engineers to evaluate designs translate manufacturing constraints into actionable feedback and support design trades that balance performance producibility and cost.
• Support the selection and qualification of contract manufacturers for machined components fabrications composite structures thermal hardware and fluid system assemblies assessing supplier manufacturing capability process maturity and cost competitiveness against DFx requirements.
• 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 identifying design changes that reduce unit cost without compromising quality or performance.
• Develop and maintain DFx standards guidelines and scorecards specific to mechanical manufacturing processes including CNC machining sheet metal fabrication welding brazing composite layup and bonding tube bending and swaging and mechanical assembly.
• Analyze designs across key lenses manufacturability/assembly cost structure adherence to specification process capability and technology maturity to contribute to quantified risk assessments that inform engineering and program decisions.
• 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 ensuring that designs are producible by the suppliers we intend to use.
• Collaborate with quality engineering to ensure DFx findings flow into inspection plans acceptance criteria and supplier quality requirements.
• Close the loop between production floor feedback supplier performance data and upstream design improvements.
• Contribute to the DFx toolkit templates scoring rubrics cost models lessons-learned databases and training materials so that DFx knowledge scales across the organization.
• Travel to production sites contract manufacturers and supplier facilities (20% depending on business needs).

• Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering Aerospace Engineering Manufacturing Engineering Industrial Engineering or a related field.
• 8 years of experience in manufacturing engineering producibility engineering or DFx with a significant focus on mechanical systems thermal management or fluid systems with specialty expertise in at least one of these domains.
• 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 the 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. Hands-on credibility matters.
• Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export controlled information or facilities.

• Masters degree in engineering or a 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 Full Size Determinant Assembly (FSDA).
• 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.

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer 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 included in the majority of full time offers; and are considered part of Andurils total compensation package. Additionally Anduril offers top-tier benefits for full-time employees including:

At Anduril we invest in our people. Our comprehensive competitive benefits package (available at little to no cost to employees) ensures youre supported in health recovery and whatever comes next.For more information Explore Our Benefits.

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