Manufacturing Engineer
Neros Technologies · Torrance · $123,500 (stated in the posting)
Who we are
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
Root Cause Analysis
- 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.
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