Manufacturing Engineer
Vital Lyfe · Los Angeles
About Vital Lyfe
Vital Lyfe is a tech company redefining water autonomy through innovation — creating a new category of personal water-making technology built to scale where infrastructure can’t.
What You'll Do
Design, develop and optimize manufacturing processes and production lines for our desalination systems—from first builds through high-rate production.
Lead DFM/DFA initiatives: tooling, fixtures, robot end-effectors, conveyors, automation programming, control systems.
Work cross-functionally to select equipment, define cycle-times, yield targets, cost-per-unit, quality metrics.
Develop work instructions, process flows, layout designs; implement and validate manufacturing methods for new systems.
Own continuous-improvement efforts: reduce cost, increase throughput, improve reliability and uptime in a fast-moving hardware startup environment.
Collaborate with procurement, quality, test, integration teams and external vendors/suppliers to ensure smooth scale-up & ramp-out of manufacturing.
What We’re Looking For
Required:
Bachelor’s in Engineering (Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial or equivalent).
2+ years professional experience in manufacturing engineering, process development or production optimization (including internships).
Strong CAD (SolidWorks / other) experience and familiarity with manufacturing automation, tooling & fixture design.
Hands-on mindset: comfortable designing the process and also working with operators & equipment to validate and refine.
Strong problem-solving skills, ability to operate in ambiguous/higher-growth environment, clear communicator across teams.
Preferred:
Experience in consumer hardware production, or systems with high-volume manufacturing.
Knowledge of pumps, valves, pressure vessels, fluid systems or broadly mechanical-hardware manufacturing.
Experience with automation programming, conveyors, robotics, fluid/pressure equipment.
Familiarity with Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, statistical process control (SPC).
Experience in a hardware startup or mission-driven organization.
Physical Job Requirements - Essential Functions
Hands on work on development hardware.
Long periods of standing, crouching, walking.
Lifting up to 50 lbs.
Why Join Vital Lyfe?
Work on high-impact problems with global relevance
Help scale breakthrough technology in water security and climate resilience
Early ownership in a high-growth, engineering-led startup
Join a tight-knit, mission-driven team in a fast-paced environment
Build long-term career equity as we grow
Location Requirement: Ability to work 100% onsite in Torrance, CA (remote or hybrid work will not be considered)
Vital Lyfe is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Vital Lyfe is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
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