Test Equipment Design Engineer - Effectors

TL;DR

Test Equipment Design Engineer - Effectors (Defense): Full lifecycle ownership of interceptor test systems—from requirements analysis and architecture to physical hardware design, build, integration, and production deployment. Focus on designing robust mechanical fixtures, electrical interfaces, HIL systems, and automated test stations while balancing verification rigor, scalability, and production rates.

Location: Hawthorne, California, United States (onsite). U.S. Citizenship required; ability to obtain DoD clearance.

Salary: $110,000 - $160,000

Company

Redefining modern defense with Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™) empowering warfighters, air operators, and border teams. Founded 2022, $1B funding, HQ in Los Angeles, 200 employees across global offices.

What you will do

• Derive test requirements from system specs, establish traceability, and define subassembly, qualification, and production test strategies.
• Design complete STE hardware: mechanical fixtures, electrical panels, harnesses, load simulators, signal conditioning, and test racks.
• Lead hands-on build, integration, debug of racks, wiring, fixtures, and validate signal integrity and system stability.
• Develop automated test software (LabVIEW, Python, C++) and architect production stations for throughput, repeatability, and error-proofing.
• Design fixtures for environmental tests (vibration, thermal, shock, EMI/EMC) and support qualification with data acquisition.
• Manage STE lifecycle, configuration control, cost-down, and scaling for production rates.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s in Electrical, Mechanical, Aerospace Engineering or related.
• 5+ years designing/building custom test equipment for aerospace, defense, or high-reliability systems.
• Experience translating requirements to test architecture; hands-on with schematics, wiring, fixtures, DAQ, instrumentation.
• Debugging electro-mechanical systems; root cause analysis.
• U.S. Citizenship; DoD clearance eligibility.

Nice to have

• Experience with missiles, UAVs, guided munitions, HIL for avionics.
• LRIP/production test station deployment; NI hardware, RF, actuator testing, PCBA test.
• MES/PLM integration; energetics/explosive-safe environments.

Culture & Benefits

• 100% company-paid medical, dental, vision; 401k with 50% match up to 6%, FSA, HSA, life insurance.
• Free daily lunch, no-meeting Fridays, unlimited PTO, casual dress.
• Competitive base, pre-IPO stock options, relocation assistance, annual bonuses (coming soon).