Lead – Electromechanical Actuation System Design Engineer

Job Title: Lead, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering

Job Code: 47527

Job Location: Canoga Park, CA (Preferred) or Sacramento, CA or Huntsville, AL

Job Schedule: 9/80: Employees work 9 out of every 14 days – totaling 80 hours worked – and have every other Friday off

Job Description:

L3Harris Technologies is seeking a Lead, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering to support the design, development, integration, and qualification of advanced electromechanical actuation systems for aerospace and defense applications. This role will lead the development of mission-critical actuation hardware across the full product lifecycle, from requirements analysis and architecture development through detailed design, integration, verification, qualification, and production support.

The ideal candidate brings strong experience in electromechanical system design, including motors, gearing, screw-driven mechanisms, structural load paths, packaging, sensing, and environmental design, along with a solid foundation in dynamic performance assessment and control theory to enable successful closed-loop system integration.

Essential Functions

• Lead the design and development of electromechanical actuation systems for aerospace and defense platforms.
• Translate customer, system, and subsystem requirements into actuation system architectures, detailed designs, and producible hardware solutions.
• Perform concept development, trade studies, and system sizing analyses considering torque, speed, load, duty cycle, reflected inertia, efficiency, mass properties, packaging, reliability, producibility, and cost.
• Develop and integrate electromechanical actuation system elements.
• Develop actuation system architectures for both linear motion applications, including mechanism selection, packaging, interface definition, and load transfer strategies.
• Perform dynamic performance assessments of actuation systems, including response time, bandwidth, damping, stiffness, resonance behavior, overshoot, settling time, backlash effects, positional accuracy, disturbance response, and stability-related mechanical influences.
• Apply control theory fundamentals to support closed-loop system integration, including understanding of feedback behavior, controllability, stability margins, and interactions between the actuator, mechanism, drive electronics, sensors, and the controlled plant.
• Support motor, transmission, and mechanism sizing through evaluation of mission profiles, transient events, startup conditions, shock loads, duty cycles, thermal limits, and operational scenarios.
• Perform or guide engineering analyses
• Develop 3D CAD models, detailed drawings, and complete engineering definition packages.
• Support hardware procurement, prototype builds, system integration, troubleshooting, and design maturation activities.
• Lead or support verification testing, qualification testing, failure investigations, and root cause/corrective action efforts.
• Collaborate with systems, electrical, controls, software, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and test engineering teams to ensure successful design execution and transition to production.
• Lead or support technical reviews, peer reviews, design reviews, customer presentations, proposal efforts, and risk assessments.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to other engineers and contribute to engineering best practices, standard work, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Support production and fielded hardware, including nonconformance review, supplier technical coordination, and issue resolution as needed.
• Ensure designs are compliant with applicable customer, program, company, aerospace, and defense standards and processes.
• Ability to obtain a US Secret security clearance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree and minimum 9 years of prior relevant mechanical engineering experience or Graduate Degree and minimum 7 years of prior related experience. In lieu of a degree, minimum of 13 years of prior related experience.

Preferred Additional Skills

• Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related discipline; Master’s Degree preferred.
• Experience in the design and development of electromechanical actuation systems, servo-mechanical systems, precision mechanisms, or related aerospace/mechanical hardware.
• Background in machine design, including gears, bearings, shafts, fasteners, fits, lubrication methods, and power transmission components.
• Experience performing system sizing and performance calculations including torque, speed, inertia, reflected load, efficiency, duty cycle, life, and load case development.
• Experience evaluating dynamic mechanical performance, including stiffness, resonance, backlash, vibration sensitivity, and positional behavior.
• Working knowledge of control theory fundamentals and electromechanical system interaction with closed-loop control systems.
• Proficiency with 3D CAD modeling and engineering drawing generation.
• Working knowledge of GD&T, tolerance stack-up analysis, and manufacturing/producibility considerations.
• Experience supporting hardware through prototype fabrication, integration, testing, and design maturation.
• Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills and ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams.
• Direct experience designing high-reliability electromechanical actuation systems for aerospace or defense applications.
• Experience with flight-critical, mission-critical, or safety-critical hardware.
• Familiarity with aerospace and defense development environments and standards
• Experience with FEA and analytical methods for structural, thermal, and dynamic system evaluation.
• Knowledge of servo systems, motor/drive integration, feedback sensors, and closed-loop electromechanical positioning systems.
• Experience supporting environmental testing, qualification testing, and failure analysis.
• Experience transitioning hardware from development into low-rate or full-rate production.
• Demonstrated technical leadership on complex mechanical or electromechanical development efforts.
• Active U.S. Secret security clearance or higher.

In compliance with pay transparency requirements, the salary range for this role in the State of California is $122,000 - $227,000. This is not a guarantee of compensation or salary, as final offer amount may vary based on factors including but not limited to experience and geographic location. L3Harris also offers a variety of benefits, including health and disability insurance, 401(k) match, flexible spending accounts, EAP, education assistance, parental leave, paid time off, and company-paid holidays. The specific programs and options available to an employee may vary depending on date of hire, schedule type, and the applicability of collective bargaining agreements.

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