Senior Mechanical Engineer, Drones

Anduril Anduril · Defense · Costa Mesa, CA · Tactical Recon & Strike

Mechanical Engineer role focused on core product development for drones and complex systems, including optical gimbals, batteries, mechanisms, structures, sensors, and payloads. Responsibilities include owning mechanical subsystems from concept to production, performing trade studies, FEA, leading design reviews, building prototypes, executing test plans, and investigating hardware failures. Requires strong engineering fundamentals, CAD skills, and hands-on prototyping experience.

What you'd actually do

  1. Own complex mechanical subsystems for Anduril's drone products from concept to full rate production
  2. Gather requirements and work through trade studies to determine the best solution
  3. Perform hand calculations and FEA to develop, assess, and optimize designs
  4. Lead design reviews and obtain buy-in from other cross-disciplinary partners
  5. Build prototypes, define and execute hardware test plans, iterate on designs, summarize results and lessons learned

Skills

Required

  • Mechanical Engineering
  • CAD
  • FEA
  • Prototyping
  • Structures
  • Fluids
  • Thermal
  • Mechanisms

Nice to have

  • Solidworks
  • NX
  • PLM systems
  • GD&T
  • CNC machining
  • composites
  • sheet metal
  • injection molding
  • PCBA integration
  • qualification campaign for flight hardware
  • designing for rugged environments
  • electro-mechanical design
  • electrical design concepts

What the JD emphasized

  • 8+ years of mechanical/design experience in a relevant capacity
  • Demonstrated ownership of a product from concept through production