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Principal Configuration Management Specialist

El Segundo, California, United States

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.C., San Francisco, San Diego, and London. For more information, please visit www.chaosinc.com.

Role Overview:

We are seeking an experienced Senior Configuration Management (CM) Specialist who will lead configuration management activities across development, qualification, and production programs supporting Massed Modular Aircraft (MMA) program. This role owns the integrity of product baselines throughout the system lifecycle — ensuring that design, documentation, and as-built/as-maintained configurations remain accurate, traceable, and compliant with contractual, regulatory, and internal quality requirements. The ideal candidate has deep familiarity with defense industry CM practices, engineering change processes, and the unique configuration control challenges of complex, safety-critical hardware/software systems. This position is located in Los Angeles and may require travel to other sites or the customer for reviews and audit.

Responsibilities:

  • Establish, maintain, and audit product baselines (functional, allocated, and product) across hardware and software configuration items throughout the program lifecycle.
  • Manage the Engineering Change Proposal/Request (ECP/ECR) process, including impact assessment coordination, Configuration Control Board (CCB) support, and disposition tracking.
  • Maintain configuration status accounting and traceability across requirements, design documentation, drawings, software builds, and test/qualification records.
  • Ensure as-designed, as-built, and as-maintained configurations remain synchronized and auditable.
  • Apply configuration management practices in accordance with applicable standards (e.g., EIA-649, MIL-STD-973/MIL-HDBK-61, SAE-EIA-649, ANSI/EIA-649-B) and contract-specific CM plans (CMPs) or Data Item Descriptions (DIDs).
  • Support compliance with customer and regulatory requirements relevant to aircraft, missile, or sUAS programs (e.g., AS9100, DO-178C/DO-254 configuration aspects, ITAR/EAR documentation control).
  • Prepare for and support internal audits, customer configuration audits (Functional Configuration Audits/Physical Configuration Audits — FCA/PCA), and government reviews.
  • Set up and administer configuration management tools/systems (e.g., PLM/PDM systems such as Teamcenter, Windchill, or similar; DOORS or other requirements management tools) to control engineering data and change records.
  • Coordinate cross-functionally with design engineering, systems engineering, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and program management on change impacts, effectivity, and implementation.
  • Manage configuration item (CI) identification, numbering schemes, and revision control across hardware, software, firmware, and technical documentation.
  • Support release management for engineering drawings, specifications, interface control documents (ICDs), and software version control.
  • Serve as the senior CM point of contact for one or more programs, representing CM in program reviews, technical interchange meetings, and customer engagements.
  • Support proposal efforts with CM plan development, staffing estimates, and lessons-learned input.

Minimum Requirements:

  • Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related technical field
  • Minimum 10 years of configuration management experience within the defense/aerospace industry, with direct exposure to aircraft or UAS programs.
  • Strong working knowledge of CM standards (e.g., EIA-649, MIL-HDBK-61) and demonstrated experience running or supporting CCBs.
  • Hands-on experience with PLM/PDM and/or requirements management tools.
  • Experience managing configuration baselines across the full program lifecycle (development through production/sustainment).
  • Experience with FCA/PCA support and customer/government configuration audits.
  • AS9100 quality system experience.

Preferred Requirements:

  • Familiarity with UAS-specific configuration challenges (rapid iteration cycles, COTS component tracking, frequent software updates).
  • Ability to obtain/maintain Secret/Top Secret/SCI clearance

Why CHAOS?

  • 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 while you're working onsite, fully-stocked kitchen, unlimited PTO, casual dress code
  • Compensation Components: Competitive base salaries, generous pre-IPO stock option grants, relocation assistance, and (coming soon!) annual bonuses
  • Team Growth: 500+ employees and counting across 5 global offices
Salary Range: $160,000 - $266,000

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. 

 

Recruiting Agencies: CHAOS Industries does not accept unsolicited resumes or outreach. Unsolicited submissions will not be reviewed or compensated.

 

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Please note this position does not necessarily require eligibility to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance. 

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