Manufacturing Engineer

Neros Technologies; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 124,000 - 215,000; Full time

Job summary

Neros Technologies is seeking a Manufacturing Engineer to own how drones are built on the floor. You will decide fixtures, joints, torque specs, and tests, then validate decisions with data before production volume.

This role is hands-on, located on the manufacturing line, reporting to the production/engineering teams, and focused on rapid, scalable manufacturing improvements. You will drive line support, process ownership, and new product scaling while owning KPIs and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial, or a related engineering field.
• 2+ years as a manufacturing, process, or industrial engineer in a hardware production environment.
• Hands-on line support experience; comfortable being the first call when things break.
• Proven root cause skills with examples of corrective actions driven to verified closure.
• Strong floor presence; communicates clearly with technicians, executives, and product engineers.

Responsibilities

• Line Support & Triage: first technical responder for line-down events; diagnose, contain, restore.
• Process Ownership: own work instructions and standard work; drive cycle time reduction and line improvements.
• New Product & Scaling: support NPI builds and provide producibility input.
• Data & KPIs: define and own station KPIs (yield, cycle time, downtime, scrap) and drive improvements.

Skills

Hands-on line support

Root cause analysis

Floor presence

Process troubleshooting

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical/Manufacturing/Industrial engineering

Tools

CAD (SolidWorks)

Job description

Neros is a defense technology company rebuilding America’s drone industrial base. We design and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are tested in combat, iterated at startup speed, and built at massive scale. Our team culture is fast, hands-on, and obsessed with closing the gap between design and deployment.

As drones transform the character of warfare, Neros is delivering the systems the West needs to compete on the modern battlefield and deter the adversaries of democracy. We’re hiring engineers, operators, and builders who want to move fast, take on extreme ownership, and get capability into the hands of warfighters in months, not years.

What you will be doing

We build drones at scale. We're looking for a Manufacturing Engineer to own how they actually get made. You will decide how each assembly is built: the fixture, the joint, the torque spec, the test that proves it good. Then you'll prove those decisions out with data before they carry production volume.

This is a floor-first role. You'll spend your days next to the line, not above it. When a station goes down, you're the first call. When a defect keeps coming back, you root-cause it and kill it for good. When the design fights the build, you push manufacturability back upstream into the design until it doesn't fight back. You are the first point of contact for engineering decisions on hardware moving through your processes, and the last line of defense between a bad process and a thousand bad units.

If you'd rather solve problems at the station with a caliper and a laptop than watch them from a conference room, this is your role.

Responsibilities

Line Support & Triage

• First technical responder for line-down and slowdown events; diagnose, contain, restore
• Troubleshoot tooling, fixtures, jigs, and station equipment issues
• Distinguish process problems from training problems from design problems, and drive fixes accordingly
• Support production supervisors with real-time technical calls during the shift

Process Ownership

• Own work instructions and standard work for assigned stations; keep them accurate and current
• Drive cycle time reduction, line balancing, and station-level improvements with production
• Design, build, and iterate fixtures and tooling to improve repeatability and speed
• Validate and release process changes through proper change control (ECR/ECO)
• Qualify new and changed processes against clear acceptance criteria: first article, capability studies
• Lead root cause analysis on recurring defects and escapes; drive corrective actions to verified closure
• Partner with quality on FPY improvement, defect containment, and disposition
• Translate failure data into process or tooling fixes, not just retraining

New Product & Scaling

• Support NPI builds: process planning, station setup, first article support
• Feed producibility and DFM input back to design engineering before release

Data & KPIs

• Define and own station-level KPIs (yield, cycle time, downtime, scrap); use them to prioritize and drive measurable improvement

You should have the following

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial, or a related engineering field
• 2+ years as a manufacturing, process, or industrial engineer in a hardware production environment
• Hands-on line support experience; comfortable being the first call when things break
• Proven root cause skills with examples of corrective actions driven to verified closure
• Strong floor presence; communicates clearly with technicians, executives, and product engineers

Nice to Have

• Fixture and tooling design experience, with CAD proficiency (SolidWorks or similar)
• Electronics or electromechanical assembly experience
• Experience taking a product from NPI through DVT/PVT into sustained production
• High-mix, high-cadence manufacturing where the design changes regularly
• Familiarity with factory automation, machine vision, robotics, or custom equipment
• Working knowledge of lean fundamentals: cycle & takt time, line balancing, 5S
• Experience creating and maintaining work orders, process plans, and mBOMs in MES/ERP
• Understanding of how to create a PFMEA and turn it into a quality verification plan
• Startup or high-growth background; experience scaling output or standing up new lines

US Salary Range

$123,500-$215,00 USD

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are considered part of Neros' total compensation package.

We’re an equal opportunity employer. We welcome all applicants without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

Export Compliance:The person hired will have access to information and items controlled by the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), and, therefore, must be a "U.S. Person" or otherwise eligible to receive an export license. As defined in the ITAR, a “U.S. Person” includes U.S. citizens, noncitizen U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents (i.e., Green Card holders), and certain other classes of individuals (e.g., asylees/refugees). Please consult with a knowledgeable advisor if you are unsure whether you are a “U.S. Person.” To assist Neros in assessing its export compliance obligations in relation to your application, please identify which statement best applies to you: * Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Neros Technologies’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.