Senior Drone Automation Engineer - Build & Scale Production

Arxlight Pictures; Oakland (CA); In loco; USD 140.000 - 190.000; Tempo pieno

Descrizione del lavoro

Arxlight Pictures in Oakland, CA, is seeking a hands-on Senior Industrial Automation Engineer to design and build automated cells for drone manufacturing from the ground up. You’ll decide what to automate first, create repeatable, high-yield production lines, and integrate PLCs, robotics, sensors, and MES connections on the floor.

You’ll work with Manufacturing, Hardware, Test and Supply Chain to reduce throughput, quality and cost bottlenecks, automate calibration and end-of-line tests, and

Competenze

• 7+ years hands-on experience in industrial automation, controls, robotics, or manufacturing engineering for complex hardware products.
• Proven track record designing, building, and commissioning automated assembly stations or production lines, from concept through stable production.
• Strong PLC and controls experience (e.g. Siemens, Rockwell/Allen‑Bradley, Beckhoff or similar), including ladder logic or structured text, motion control, safety circuits, and HMI development.
• Hands-on experience programming and integrating industrial or collaborative robots (e.g. FANUC, ABB, KUKA, Universal Robots), along with machine vision, sensors, pneumatics, and end‑of‑arm tooling.
• Strong programming skills in Python or similar languages for station software, data collection, and integration with MES, databases, and hardware communication protocols such as EtherNet/IP, Modbus, OPC UA, serial, or CAN.
• Experience designing fixtures and tooling in CAD (SolidWorks, Onshape or similar), and applying machine safety standards and risk assessment to equipment design.
• Comfortable working hands-on on the production floor, building and debugging your own equipment, and moving quickly when the product or volumes are changing.

Mansioni

• Map the end-to-end drone build process, identify bottlenecks, and own a prioritized automation roadmap.
• Develop PLC, motion control, robot and HMI programs, and integrate vision systems, sensors, torque tools and test equipment into reliable stations.
• Build the software and data layer behind the line, connecting stations to MES, traceability and data collection for review of build history and results.
• Automate calibration, end-of-line test, firmware flashing and packaging steps in collaboration with Test Engineering for fast, repeatable production tests.
• Work with Hardware and Manufacturing to drive design-for-automation and design-for-manufacturing changes for new drone designs on the line without rework.
• Own stations from concept through validation and ramp, including fixture and tooling design, process capability, cycle time, OEE, preventive maintenance, and documentation.
• Investigate line stoppages, defects and yield losses, find root causes, and implement fixes.

Conoscenze

On-floor debugging

Cross-functional collaboration

Strumenti

PLC programming & controls

Robot programming & integration

Python programming

CAD design (SolidWorks/Onshape)

Machine safety standards

Descrizione del lavoro

Arxlight Pictures in Oakland, CA, is seeking a hands-on Senior Industrial Automation Engineer to design and build automated cells for drone manufacturing from the ground up. You’ll decide what to automate first, create repeatable, high-yield production lines, and integrate PLCs, robotics, sensors, and MES connections on the floor.

You’ll work with Manufacturing, Hardware, Test and Supply Chain to reduce throughput, quality and cost bottlenecks, automate calibration and end-of-line tests, and