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Mechanical Design Engineer, Defense Structures

About Machina Labs:

Engineering moves at software speed. Manufacturing doesn't. Yet.

Machina Labs is changing that. We build intelligent, software-defined factories that produce complex metal structures directly from digital design. By integrating advanced metal forming, robotics, and automated production inside a flexible factory architecture, we enable customers to move from prototype to production in weeks, not years.

Backed by Lockheed Martin, Toyota, and NVIDIA, we're building the manufacturing infrastructure that defense, aerospace, and advanced mobility programs will run on.

If you want to work on hard problems that matter and see them fly, drive, and defend, this is the place.

Job Description:

Machina Labs is looking for a motivated, detail-oriented, and technically strong Mechanical Design Engineer to join our Aerospace and Defense team. This role will focus on the mechanical design, producibility, and design-for-manufacturability of structural defense products, including missile structures, hypersonic vehicle components, UAV structures, and other integrated metallic assemblies.

As a Mechanical Designer, you will work closely with engineering, manufacturing, business development, and customer teams to translate customer requirements and product concepts into manufacturable designs. You will support the development of metallic structures, tooling concepts, assembly approaches, and producibility recommendations that enable rapid, scalable production using Machina Labs’ advanced manufacturing capabilities.

Success in this role requires strong mechanical design fundamentals, practical manufacturing judgment, attention to detail, and the ability to work in a fast-paced technical environment. The ideal candidate is comfortable working with incomplete information, can identify manufacturability risks early, and can propose clear design changes that improve cost, lead time, quality, and production scalability.

This role is well suited for someone who understands that the best design is not only technically sound, but also buildable, inspectable, repeatable, and scalable.

Key Responsibilities:

Create and modify mechanical designs for structural defense products, including missile, hypersonic, UAV, and aerospace metallic structures.
Support design-for-manufacturability reviews for customer-provided designs, models, drawings, and technical data packages.
Identify producibility issues related to forming, welding, machining, trimming, fixturing, assembly, inspection, and integration.
Develop clear manufacturability recommendations and design change requests to support customer design improvements.
Generate CAD models, layouts, detailed drawings, assemblies, bills of materials, and supporting technical documentation.
Work with internal engineering and manufacturing teams to align product designs with Machina Labs’ robotic forming and advanced manufacturing processes.
Support concept development for integrated structures, including formed panels, stiffened structures, tanks, aeroshells, frames, brackets, ducts, and other metallic components.
Translate customer requirements into practical design inputs for manufacturing development, quoting, prototyping, and production planning.
Participate in internal and external design reviews, manufacturability reviews, and technical interchange meetings.
Support rapid iteration of designs based on customer feedback, manufacturing results, inspection data, and production lessons learned.
Collaborate with manufacturing engineers, mechanical engineers, weld engineers, quality engineers, and program teams to resolve design and production issues.
Help develop standard design guidelines for manufacturable metallic structures using Machina Labs’ processes.

Maintain a high level of technical rigor, configuration discipline, and documentation quality.

Required Background & Experience:

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.
3+ years of experience in mechanical design, aerospace design, defense product design, or manufacturing-focused product development.
Experience using parametric CAD software to create parts, assemblies, and drawings, such as SolidWorks, Siemens NX, CATIA, Creo, Inventor, or similar tools.
Experience creating and interpreting mechanical drawings, assemblies, bills of materials, and technical documentation.
Working knowledge of design-for-manufacturability principles for metallic components and assemblies.
Ability to review customer drawings and models and identify manufacturing risks, design gaps, and producibility concerns.
Understanding of common manufacturing processes such as sheet metal forming, machining, welding, trimming, drilling, fastening, fixturing, and assembly.
Ability to break complex technical problems into clear actions and execute to schedule.
Strong attention to detail and ability to work in a fast-paced technical environment.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience supporting aerospace, defense, missile, hypersonic, UAV, aircraft, space, or high-performance structural products.
Experience designing or supporting integrated metallic structures, aeroshells, tanks, skins, frames, panels, brackets, ribs, stiffeners, or welded assemblies.
Experience working with customer technical data packages, engineering drawings, 3D models, statements of work, and manufacturing requirements.
Experience supporting design reviews, manufacturability reviews, production readiness reviews, or customer technical interchange meetings.
Strong understanding of GD&T and drawing standards, including ASME Y14.5.
Experience with model-based definition, 3D annotation, or digital manufacturing workflows.
Experience with aerospace materials, including aluminum alloys, stainless steels, titanium alloys, nickel alloys, or high-temperature materials.
Experience with forming, robotic manufacturing, incremental forming, hydroforming, stretch forming, brake forming, or other sheet metal processes.
Experience with welding, laser welding, resistance welding, brazing, bonding, or mechanical fastening of aerospace structures.
Familiarity with AS9100, defense manufacturing requirements, first article inspection, and production quality documentation.
Ability to communicate technical recommendations clearly to both internal teams and external customers.
Ability to distinguish between design features that are critical to performance and features that can be modified to improve manufacturability.
Experience working in a startup, prototype, advanced manufacturing, or rapid development environment.
U.S. defense or aerospace program experience is strongly preferred.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities required for this role. Duties and responsibilities may change based on business needs.

Additional Requirements:

Ability to work in a manufacturing and shop-floor environment as needed.
Ability to use basic inspection and measurement tools, including calipers, micrometers, height gauges, and other standard shop tools.
Exposure to typical manufacturing environments, including shop noise, equipment, tools, coolants, solvents, cleaners, and standard safety requirements.
Physical effort may include standing, walking, bending, lifting, and carrying equipment up to 40 lbs.
Must be able to work onsite as required to support engineering, manufacturing, customer, and program needs.

Desired Attributes:

Strong ownership mentality and ability to drive work to completion.
Practical engineering judgment with a bias toward manufacturable solutions.
Comfortable working with ambiguity and evolving customer requirements.
High level of personal initiative and technical curiosity.
Ability to maintain composure and productivity in demanding technical situations.
Clear communicator who can turn manufacturing concerns into actionable design recommendations.
Mission-driven mindset and interest in strengthening the defense industrial base.

The base salary range for this role is dependent on experience, qualifications, and overall alignment with the scope of the position.

In addition to base compensation, Machina Labs offers a competitive benefits package and stock option participation.

Machina Labs is an Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity employer and considers all applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or status as a protected veteran in accordance with state and federal law.

We endeavor to make the job application process accessible to any and all users. If you have a disability that impacts your ability to complete the job application process and would like to request assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please contact us at (888)444-9777. This contact information is for accommodation requests only, not to inquire about the status of applications.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

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