DFx Manufacturing Engineer

Anduril-1; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Anduril Industries is seeking a DFx Engineer on the Air Dominance & Strike Manufacturing Engineering team to optimize design for manufacturability, assembly, and cost across avionics, electronics, wiring, and harnessing. You’ll work with SMEs and cross‑functional teams to improve producibility and supplier alignment.

In this early‑career friendly role, you’ll gain hands‑on exposure to supplier qualification, cost modeling, and DFx toolkit development, spending time on production floors and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant engineering field.
• 5 years in manufacturing/process engineering with electronics exposure.
• Ability to read schematics, PCB layouts, and harness drawings.
• Familiarity with IPC-A-610, J-STD-001, IPC-620 or willingness to learn.

Responsibilities

• Perform DFx analysis across avionics, electronics, wiring, and harnessing.
• Participate in DFM/ DFA/ DFC reviews at milestones and score risks.
• Provide manufacturability and cost feedback to design teams.
• Evaluate contract manufacturers through facility reviews and audits.
• Develop and maintain DFx standards, templates, and cost models.

Skills

Cross-functional collaboration

DFx mindset

Cost awareness

Strong communication

Fast-paced work style

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing Engineering

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering

Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering

Related field

Tools

IPC standards

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 TEAM

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 avionics, electronics, wiring,and harnessing 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 designsthrough the lenses of manufacturability, assembly, and cost — the three factors that determine whetherhardware can be produced at rate, by a qualified supplier, at an affordable price point. You will workalongside subject matter expert (SME) manufacturing engineers and design engineers, building thetechnical judgment and cross-functional relationships that make DFx effective. You will also gain hands‑on exposure to contract manufacturer evaluation and qualification — visitingsupplier facilities, participating in process assessments, and learning how to match supplier capabilitiesto production requirements. This is an inherently cross‑functional role: you will work daily with supplychain, 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 productionfloor and in the cost model.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Support DFx analysis across avionics, electronics, wiring, and harnessing 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.
• 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 electronics and harnessing assemblies.
• Help develop and maintain DFx standards, guidelines, and scorecards specific to electronics manufacturing processes including SMT, wave/selective solder, conformal coating, potting, wire harness fabrication, and box-build 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 electronics and harnesses 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 Electrical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related field.
• 5 years of experience in manufacturing engineering, process engineering, or a related role with exposure to electronics, avionics, wiring, or harnessing. Co-op, internship, or capstone project experience in a manufacturing environment counts.
• Foundational knowledge of electronics and/or harnessing manufacturing processes: SMT, soldering, conformal coating, wire harness fabrication, or electromechanical assembly.
• Ability to read electrical schematics, PCB layouts, and harness drawings with an eye toward producibility.
• Interest in understanding manufacturing cost drivers and how design decisions impact unit cost.
• Familiarity with IPC standards (IPC-A-610, J-STD-001, IPC-620) or a willingness to learn and apply them quickly.
• Strong communication skills and a willingness to engage directly with design engineers, manufacturing engineers, quality, supply chain, and operations — cross‑functional collaboration is the core of this job, not a side task.
• Comfort working in a fast‑paced environment across multiple programs simultaneously.
• A genuine interest in manufacturing and a drive to understand how things are actually built and what they cost to produce. Personal experience physically building or working on hardware (soldering, harness build, assembly, personal projects) is a strong plus.
• An attitude of world‑class mission assurance, quality, attention to detail, and dedication.
• Self‑motivated and proactive — you take initiative, ask good questions, and close the loop on what you commit to.
• Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export controlled information or facilities.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS