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Job Description

Overview

CHAOS Industries is redefining modern defense with a multi-product portfolio that empowers warfighters and commercial air operators. They are seeking a hands-on Staff Mechanical Design Engineer to lead the design and integration of aerospace vehicles and associated hardware in a build-and-fly environment.

Responsibilities

  • Perform hands-on mechanical design and integration of flight-vehicle structures and mechanical hardware.
  • Own the mechanical design and integration of defined subsystems, product areas, or major assemblies.
  • Perform trade studies and recommend path forward.
  • Develop and maintain 3D CAD models, assemblies, detailed drawings, and interface control documents.
  • Develop mechanical designs subject to structural, thermal, environmental, manufacturability, installation, and operational requirements.
  • Perform first-order structural and thermal analyses, hand calculations, requirements analysis, and design verification activities.
  • Lead design review on owned design.
  • Work collaboratively with various engineering and manufacturing functions to resolve integration challenges.
  • Support system integration, qualification, and flight testing.
  • Support prototype fabrication, assembly, transition to production, and sustainment of deployed systems.
  • Mentor junior engineers.

Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline.
  • 7+ years of progressively responsible experience in mechanical design and integration of airframes or related aerospace hardware.
  • Demonstrated experience designing airframes, control surfaces, and structural assemblies.
  • Strong proficiency with mechanical CAD tools (SolidWorks, CATIA, NX, or equivalent).
  • Strong understanding of structural load paths, joints, fasteners, and bonded joints.
  • Experience designing or integrating metallic or composite structures subject to various environmental requirements.
  • Experience applying military specifications and applicable aerospace, defense, and airworthiness standards.
  • Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.

Benefits

  • Health Insurance
  • 401k
  • PTO

Additional Information

  • This is a full-time position in El Segundo, CA or Tucson, AZ.
  • The El Segundo position requires regular on-site work.
  • The Tucson position may be primarily remote but must reside within reasonable commuting distance.

Benefits

Health Insurance
401k
PTO
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How this job compares in El Segundo, CA

Pay in context

At roughly $90/hr, this posting sits about 56% above the $58/hr median for welding jobs in El Segundo, CA — toward the top of a $38–$72/hr middle band drawn from 16 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 94% of the comparable postings we have wage data for. Pay that far above local median usually comes attached to something: a harder cert requirement, travel, night shift, or overtime that isn't really optional. Worth establishing which before you accept.

The local market in El Segundo, CA

We're tracking 21 other active welding openings in El Segundo, CA right now, from 11 different employers. 15 of them were added in the last week. Across California as a whole we're tracking 553 other active welding openings from 252 employers. A metro this active generally means you have real leverage — employers here are competing for the same welders. Browse every welding job in El Segundo, or widen the search to California.

CHAOS Industries currently has 1 other opening live in California, which is usually a sign of either steady growth or steady turnover — worth asking which in the interview.

The most active employers in California at the moment, by number of open welding reqs, are SpaceX (34), Honeywell Aerospace (21), and Aerotek (17). Volume like that usually means either a genuine expansion or a staffing agency working several client sites — worth knowing which before you apply.

Within California, the best-paying metros we track by median hourly rate are Redondo Beach at $72/hr, El Segundo at $58/hr, and Torrance at $47/hr. El Segundo is among them.

Similar openings near El Segundo, CA

Pay figures are medians computed from live postings in the Welding Pros index, not from survey data, and they move as employers post. Staff Mechanical Engineer figures were last recalculated when this page was built.