DFx Engineer, Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Anduril; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Anduril Industries is seeking a DFx Engineer to support design for manufacturability, assembly, and cost analysis across mechanical, structural, thermal, and fluid subsystems. The role spans autonomous aircraft, missiles, and munitions, offering exposure to supplier qualification and cost modeling on a fast-moving hardware program.

Under guidance from senior DFx engineers, you will learn to evaluate designs for producibility and affordability, visiting supplier facilities, performing process

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related field.
• 5+ years in manufacturing engineering, process engineering, or a related role with exposure to mechanical, thermal, or fluid systems.
• Co-op, internship, or capstone project experience in a manufacturing environment counts.

Responsibilities

• Support DFx analysis across mechanical, structural, thermal, and fluid systems subsystems with a focus on manufacturability, assembly, and cost.
• Participate in structured DFM/DFA/DFC reviews at design milestones, applying scoring to identify producibility and cost risks and recommend changes.
• Participate in DFMEAs with cross-functional teams and use outputs to drive design changes, inspection strategies, and control plans.
• Work with SME manufacturing engineers and design engineers to provide manufacturing and cost feedback on designs.
• Collaborate with supply chain to connect DFx requirements to sourcing strategy and supplier selection.
• Spend time on the production floor and at supplier sites to understand how hardware is manufactured.
• Contribute to the DFx toolkit – templates, scoring rubrics, cost models, and training materials.
• Travel to production sites and supplier facilities (~20%).

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related field

Job description

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. By bringing the expertise, technology, and business model of the 21st century's most innovative companies to the defense industry, Anduril is changing how military systems are designed, built and sold. Anduril's family of systems is powered by Lattice OS, an AI-powered operating system that turns thousands of data streams into a realtime, 3D command and control center. As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting-edge autonomy, AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the military in months, not years.

ABOUT THE JOB

Anduril's Air Dominance & Strike (AD&S) Manufacturing Engineering team is seeking a DFx Engineer to support design for manufacturability, assembly, and cost analysis 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 - and is an excellent opportunity for an early-career engineer to develop deep expertise in how design decisions impact producibility, supplier selection, and unit cost. Working under the guidance of Staff and Senior DFx Engineers, you will learn to evaluate designs through the lenses of manufacturability, assembly, and cost - the three factors that determine whether hardware can be produced at rate, by a qualified supplier, at an affordable price point. You will work alongside subject matter expert (SME) manufacturing engineers and design engineers, building the technical judgment and cross-functional relationships that make DFx effective. You will also gain hands‑on exposure to contract manufacturer evaluation and qualification - visiting supplier facilities, participating in process assessments, and learning how to match supplier capabilities to production requirements. 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. You will grow quickly here - our programs move fast, the hardware is real, and the impact of your work shows up on the production floor and in the cost model.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Support DFx analysis across mechanical, structural, thermal, and fluid systems subsystems for AD&S programs, working under the guidance of Staff and Senior DFx Engineers, with a focus on manufacturability, assembly, and cost.
• Participate in structured DFM/DFA/DFC reviews at key design milestones, learning and applying the scoring methodology to identify producibility and cost risks and recommend design changes.
• Participate in DFMEAs with cross‑functional teams. Use FMEA outputs to drive design changes, inspection strategies, and control plans.
• Work with SME manufacturing engineers and design engineers to provide manufacturing and cost feedback on designs, learning to translate constraints into actionable recommendations.
• Support the evaluation and qualification of contract manufacturers - participating in facility reviews, process audits, and capability assessments under the guidance of senior team members.
• Help build and maintain should‑cost models and cost‑driver analyses for mechanical and fluid system assemblies.
• Help 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 - contributing to risk assessments that inform engineering and program decisions.
• Work with supply chain to understand how DFx requirements connect to sourcing strategy and supplier selection.
• Collaborate with quality engineering to understand how DFx findings translate into inspection plans, acceptance criteria, and supplier quality requirements.
• Spend time on the production floor and at supplier sites to build firsthand understanding of how mechanical hardware, thermal systems, and fluid components are manufactured.
• Contribute to the DFx toolkit - templates, scoring rubrics, cost models, lessons‑learned databases, and training materials.
• Travel to production sites, contract manufacturers, and supplier facilities (~20%, depending on business needs).

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in manufacturing engineering, process engineering, or a related role with exposure to mechanical systems, thermal management, or fluid systems. Co-op, internship, or capstone project experience in a manufacturing environment counts.
• Foundational knowledge