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Manufacturing Engineer

Hawthorne, California, United States

CHAOS Inc. is a global technology company delivering next-generation capabilities to the defense and critical industrial sectors. Founded in 2022 by a seasoned leadership team, CHAOS has quickly become the place where world-class multi-disciplinary engineers come to build mission-critical technologies. CHAOS has a mission-focused culture, dedicated to solving the toughest technical challenges. Its unique agile engineering approach enables rapid prototyping, while deep partnerships with defense and industry ensure real-world solutions.

Role Overview:

We are seeking a Manufacturing Engineer to join our dynamic team in Los Angeles. In this role, they will be the responsible engineering authority (REA) of Manufacturing Data Packages (MDPs) including assembly instructions and Manufacturing Bills of Material (mBOMs), manage work order routing, and support manufacturing tool and fixture designs, and be expected to work collaboratively across the Production team, the Hardware and Software R&D teams, and the Systems Engineering team. The ideal candidate will have experience working within a complex and high-rate manufacturing environment, experience managing MES and ERP systems, and experience with CAD solid modeling tools.

Responsibilities:

  • Learn Chaos-specific production and programmatic operations and employ industry best practices to improve manufacturing planning and execution
  • Analyze product specifications to determine appropriate designs and processes that support customer requirements
  • Develop, test, and modify solutions through a collaborative effort with various teams
  • Manage large-scale development and implementation of manufacturing process improvements
  • Develop Manufacturing Data Packages (MDPs) including assembly instructions, workflow/routing, labor standards, tool, and fixture designs
  • Manage Manufacturing Bills of Material (mBOMs) and Technical Data Packages (TDPs)
  • Manage factory Demand/Supply in support of achieving MRP Schedules that support customer requirements
  • Analyze material availability in support of contract requirements; communicate and status factory priorities, identify barriers and solutions to support factory schedules, and take appropriate action to ensure program goals are achieved
  • Establish engineering design requirements tailored to manufacturing processes
  • Develop and implement manufacturing process control and performance monitoring
  • Lead factory wide strategic improvement projects
  • Address large scale quality issues that affect the factory
  • Participate in ERB/CCB, LOB, production increment planning as the program Ops representative
  • Manage Effectivities for Variances/IR’s/CNs
  • Support build team with process troubleshooting and incorporation of engineering changes into the MDP
  • Ownership of root cause and corrective action (RCCA) analysis
  • Lead Continuous Improvement projects to improve cycle time, reduce ergonomic risk to assemblers, incorporate automation, and generally reduce costs (both direct and indirect) using Six Sigma principles and data driven decision making
  • Providing real-time technical support to manufacturers and fabricators; in-house as well as the supply base
  • Tool/fixture development to drive ergonomics into processes
  • Assist with future contract proposals by providing the mBOMs for applicable hardware configurations and other tasks
  • Provide program expertise on applicable manufacturing subsystems, maintain a baseline of operational products and provide operations certification training
  • Support the development and improvement of operations processes / products / training materials, the investigation and diagnosis of unexpected system signatures, and the coordination and implementation of system maintenance tasks
  • Provide Test Equipment (TE) integration, troubleshooting, sustainment, and compliance with the ultimate responsibility to maintain test integrity and the availability for our test systems.

Minimum Requirements:

  • Bachelor’s in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) and minimum 5 years prior relevant experience or an advanced degree in a related field and minimum 3 years experience
  • U.S. Person status (i.e. U.S. Citizen or lawful permanent resident/Green Card holder)
  • Experience with interpretation of technical documentation, including work instructions, Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T), assembly and component-level drawings and specifications, technical specifications, test plans, and test reports
  • Experience with MES/ERP systems
  • Proficiency with CAD solid modeling tools (preference for SolidWorks)
  • Experience within a manufacturing environment, ideally high-rate
  • Experience leading multi-disciplined teams or projects
  • Experience with lean/agile manufacturing principles
  • Innovative mindset that drives continuous improvement, lean manufacturing and keeps pace with advances in technology
  • Experience with technical writing and problem solving
  • Experience with automated tooling, machinery and programming
  • Demonstrated hands-on mechanical aptitude with the ability to work across disciplines

Preferred Requirements:

  • Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government issued security clearance
  • Experience trending and troubleshooting RF systems
  • Experience coordinating and leading teams through RCCA processes
  • An understanding of large, complex systems and the engineering change process
  • Experience with Radio Frequency (RF), Digital, Power, Thermal, Control and / or communication systems design and operational use
  • Experience developing and maintaining operational procedures, products and training materials. Knowledge of whole lifecycle process from requirements development to maintenance and sustainment

Why CHAOS?

  • Health Benefits: Your medical, dental and vision benefits will be 100% paid for by the company
  • Additional benefits: life, FSA, HSA, 401k (+ Company match), and more
  • Our Perks: free daily lunch, ‘No meeting Fridays’, unlimited PTO (for exempt employees), casual dress code
  • Compensation Components: competitive base salaries, generous pre-IPO stock option grants, relocation assistance + (coming soon!) annual bonuses
  • Company Size: 85 employees and counting!
  • More About Us: We're building the next generation of aerospace, defense and critical industry technologies with a seasoned team of mission-focused individuals. We were founded in June 2022 and our goal is to become the platform where world-class engineers come to solve critical, real-world problems. We use agile engineering approaches which enable rapid prototyping, deep partnerships with the defense industry ensuring real-world application, and our newly-invented Coherence platform (through which we’ve made a fundamental breakthrough) improves sensor performance and decision-making in real-time. As of September 2024 we have raised ~$240M with 8VC and Accel as leading investors. With a managing team that includes Epirus’ founding members (responsible for building a $1.5B company from scratch) + key drivers from Palantir (instrumental in Palantir’s growth to $1B in revenue), we are well-positioned to become one of the fastest growing companies to date!

Salary Range: $110,000 - $150,000

The stated compensation range reflects only the targeted base compensation range and excludes additional earnings such as bonus, equity, and benefits. If your compensation requirements fall outside of the range, we still encourage you to apply. The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a 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.

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