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Job Description

Overview

Heaviside Industries is focused on building multi-domain autonomous precision munitions for U.S. and allied forces, emphasizing economical precision strike capabilities in contested environments. The Principal Mechanical Engineer will lead the mechanical design of munition airframe structures and mechanisms from concept through production.

Responsibilities

  • Own the mechanical design of munition airframe structures, mechanisms, and payload packaging from concept through production.
  • Lead structural design and analysis for airframes subject to launch loads, flight loads, and terminal conditions.
  • Design for tactical environments per MIL-STD-810, including qualification campaigns.
  • Drive design-for-manufacture across composites, machined metallics, and additive processes.
  • Own thermal management design for avionics and RF payload packaging in small tactical airframes.
  • Develop single-use-reliability mechanisms such as wing/fin deployment and actuation systems.
  • Release production-ready drawing packages with rigorous GD&T per ASME Y14.5 and mentor engineers.

Requirements

  • 10+ years of mechanical design experience on defense or aerospace hardware.
  • Demonstrated ownership of complete mechanical subsystems from requirements to production release.
  • Expert 3D CAD proficiency, preferably in NX, with rigorous GD&T knowledge.
  • Strong structural analysis capability, including FEA validated against test.
  • Hands-on experience with composite and machined-metallic airframe design.
  • Experience qualifying hardware to MIL-STD-810 environments.
  • Bonus: Experience with folding aerosurfaces or deployment mechanisms.
  • Bonus: Experience supporting in-house or rate manufacturing of defense hardware.
  • U.S. Person as defined by ITAR.

Benefits

  • 401k
  • Health Insurance
  • Dental
  • Vision

Additional Information

  • Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and market data.
  • Heaviside will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with fair chance initiatives.

Benefits

401k
Health Insurance
Dental
Vision
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How this job compares in Los Angeles, CA

Pay in context

This employer didn't publish a rate. For reference, welding jobs in Los Angeles, CA currently run a median of $44/hr in our index, with the middle half of them falling between $36–$67/hr across 52 postings with published pay. That median is a reasonable floor to anchor on when a recruiter asks what you're looking for.

The local market in Los Angeles, CA

We're tracking 87 other active welding openings in Los Angeles, CA right now, from 50 different employers. 18 of them were added in the last week. Across California as a whole we're tracking 486 other active welding openings from 234 employers. A metro this active generally means you have real leverage — employers here are competing for the same welders. Browse every welding job in Los Angeles, or widen the search to California.

Heaviside 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 (35), Welding Shop in Los Angeles, CA (17), and Relativity Space (14). 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 Long Beach at $49/hr, El Segundo at $48/hr, and Los Angeles at $44/hr. Los Angeles is among them.

Certifications this posting mentions

  • ASME Section IX — the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code qualification. It covers welding on pressure-retaining equipment — boilers, vessels, and process piping — where a failed weld is a safety incident rather than a rework ticket.

Read straight from this posting's text. Confirm the exact qualification the employer wants before you test — requirements vary by shop even under the same code.

Similar openings near Los Angeles, CA

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