Staff Manufacturing Engineer - Propulsion

ABOUT THE JOB

Anduril's Air Dominance & Strike (AD&S) Manufacturing Engineering team is seeking a Propulsion Manufacturing Engineer to provide subject matter expertise on propulsion system manufacturing across our portfolio of autonomous aircraft, cruise missiles, and loitering munitions. This position may be filled at either the Senior or Staff level depending on experience and qualifications. This role covers the full spectrum of propulsion technologies relevant to AD&S — air-breathing jet turbines, ramjets, and solid rocket motors — and is responsible for ensuring that propulsion hardware can be manufactured, assembled, tested, and integrated at production rate with the quality and reliability our programs demand.

You will bring deep expertise in the manufacturing processes, materials, and quality requirements specific to propulsion systems. Your knowledge of how these systems are built — from turbine blade casting and combustion fabrication to solid propellant processing and nozzle manufacturing — is what makes you valuable. You are the person who knows what can go wrong in propulsion production and how to prevent it through design influence, process control, and supplier qualification.

A critical part of this role is working directly with design engineers and program-level manufacturing engineers to evaluate propulsion designs for producibility, drive DFM improvements, and support the selection and qualification of propulsion suppliers and contract manufacturers. You will also support propulsion system test campaigns from a manufacturing engineering perspective, including integration, acceptance testing, and anomaly resolution. This is an inherently cross-functional role: you will work daily with supply chain, quality, operations, test engineering, and program teams.

You must be able to work on-site Monday-Friday at our Costa Mesa, CA campus. Per Anduril's expansion plans, we anticipate this job will be based out of our new Long Beach, CA campus, beginning late 2027.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Serve as a propulsion manufacturing engineering subject matter expert across AD&S programs, covering air-breathing turbines, ramjets, and solid rocket motors.
• Evaluate propulsion system designs for manufacturability, assembly, and cost — leading or supporting DFM/DFA reviews and driving design changes that improve producibility without compromising performance.
• Work directly with design engineers and program manufacturing engineers to translate propulsion manufacturing constraints into actionable design feedback.
• Assist in the selection and qualification of propulsion suppliers and contract manufacturers — assessing manufacturing capability, process maturity, quality systems, and cost competitiveness for propulsion-specific production.
• Conduct or participate in supplier manufacturing assessments for propulsion hardware, including facility reviews, process audits, special process qualification (casting, brazing, propellant processing, thermal spray), and production readiness evaluations.
• Develop and maintain manufacturing process requirements and standards for propulsion-specific processes including turbine component manufacturing, combustor and hot section fabrication, solid propellant mixing and casting, nozzle manufacturing, and propulsion system assembly and integration.
• Support propulsion system test campaigns from a manufacturing engineering perspective — including hardware preparation, instrumentation integration, acceptance test criteria, and post-test hardware disposition and anomaly investigation.
• Develop or contribute to should-cost models and cost-driver analyses for propulsion assemblies and components, identifying design and process changes that reduce unit cost at rate production.
• Partner with quality engineering to define or support inspection plans, acceptance criteria, and process controls specific to propulsion hardware — including non-destructive testing (NDT), dimensional inspection, and material certification requirements.
• Collaborate with supply chain to align propulsion manufacturing requirements with sourcing strategy, including long-lead material planning and sole/single source risk mitigation.
• Close the loop between production and test feedback, supplier performance data, and upstream design and process improvements.
• Build and maintain propulsion manufacturing knowledge within the ME organization — developing training materials, lessons-learned databases, and technical reference documents.
• Mentor and develop junior and mid-level engineers on propulsion manufacturing principles and supplier assessment methods (Staff level).
• Travel to production sites, propulsion suppliers, and test facilities (~20%, depending on business needs).

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, or a related field, OR equivalent full-time, relevant industry experience.
• 12+ years of experience in propulsion manufacturing, propulsion engineering, or a closely related manufacturing discipline — with expertise in at least one propulsion type: air-breathing turbines, ramjets, or solid rocket motors.
• Strong technical knowledge of propulsion-specific manufacturing processes relevant to your area of expertise. Depending on specialty, this may include: investment casting and single-crystal blade production, combustor and hot section fabrication (welding, brazing, thermal barrier coatings), solid propellant formulation, mixing, casting and curing, nozzle and throat insert manufacturing (ablatives, refractory metals, carbon-carbon composites), ramjet combustor and inlet manufacturing, or propulsion system assembly, integration, and acceptance testing.
• Experience evaluating propulsion designs for manufacturability and translating findings into measurable improvements.
• Experience evaluating or qualifying propulsion suppliers — including special process qualification and production readiness assessments.
• Understanding of cost drivers in propulsion production, with experience building or contributing to should-cost models.
• Ability to read and critically evaluate propulsion system drawings, specifications, and test requirements for manufacturing implications.
• Working knowledge of relevant propulsion standards and specifications (MIL-STD, SAE AMS, JANNAF, AIAA standards as applicable).
• Proven ability to work cross-functionally across design engineering, manufacturing engineering, test engineering, supply chain, quality, and operations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present technical findings to engineering leadership and drive alignment on design and process changes.
• Comfortable working across multiple programs simultaneously in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Hands-on experience with propulsion hardware — whether in a production, test, or integration environment. Technical credibility matters.
• Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export controlled information or facilities.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Master's degree or PhD in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, or a propulsion-related field
• Deep expertise spanning two or more propulsion types (turbines, ramjets, solid rocket motors).
• Experience in aerospace or defense propulsion production, particularly with qualified or flight-critical hardware.
• Familiarity with AS9100/AS9102 quality management systems and their application to propulsion hardware.
• Experience with energetic materials handling, storage, and safety requirements for solid rocket motor production.
• Knowledge of propulsion system qualification processes (ground test, environmental qualification, lot acceptance testing).
• Background in advanced materials and processes relevant to propulsion: superalloys, ceramics, ablatives, composite overwrap, thermal protection systems.
• Proficiency in CAD software (NX, CATIA, SolidWorks, or similar) sufficient to review designs independently.
• Experience with value engineering or formal cost reduction programs in a propulsion production environment.
• Currently possesses and is able to maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance with Full-Scope Polygraph.

US Salary Range 183000 - 243000 USD