Senior Electrical Manufacturing Engineer

Performance Drone Works (PDW) builds technologies for the warfighter, by the warfighter. Born out of the Drone Racing League, our roots are competitive, our mindset is tactical, and our mission is clear: deliver purpose-built unmanned systems to those who serve. We are not here to sell vapor; we build and ship real capabilities for real missions. 

Now, we’re entering a new phase of growth and are looking for a Senior Electrical Manufacturing Engineer to drive manufacturability, production readiness, and scalable factory design across multiple sUAS platforms. This role partners with Design Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and Operations to lead DFM/DFMA, NPI industrialization, tooling and fixturing, built-in quality, capacity modeling, automation readiness for high-volume production, and factory/line layout optimization to improve throughput, cost, quality, and safety.

What You’ll Do

• Collaborate with Design Engineering to provide DFM/DFT input from concept through release; deliver clear, prioritized inputs to improve electrical designs for manufacturability, assembly, testability, and cost for high-volume production.
• Lead optimization of electrical manufacturing, assembly, and test processes for new and existing products (e.g., avionics, power distribution, RF components, embedded systems, PCBAs, motors, controllers, cable harnesses).
• Develop, validate, release, and continuously improve manufacturing documentation, including work instructions, process flows, routings, control plans, and test procedures.
• Troubleshoot production and test issues across assemblies and systems; perform root cause analysis (RCA) and implement corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) to improve safety, quality, delivery, and cost.
• Support development, validation, and sustainment of electrical test systems and fixtures to meet performance and OEE requirements.
• Collaborate with Quality, Supply Chain, and suppliers to support product qualification, component availability, and inspection/test strategies (including PFMEA and control plans).
• Establish labor standards and staffing models using time studies (e.g., stopwatch, MOST/MTM); align standard work to takt time and production targets.
• Develop capacity models for critical resources (labor, equipment, test stations), identify bottlenecks, and drive mitigation plans.
• Design and optimize factory layouts (line/cell), including material flow, kitting, point-of-use storage, WIP control, and ergonomic/safety considerations.
• Identify, evaluate, and industrialize automation opportunities for high-volume assembly and test; support specification, layout, commissioning, and ramp-up of semi- and fully automated workcells and lines.
• Define and validate production tooling, fixturing, and gaging (e.g., assembly jigs, test fixtures, torque tools, poka-yoke devices) to enable safe, repeatable, and efficient builds.
• Partner with NPI to plan and execute prototype, pilot, and ramp builds, including line readiness, tooling, training, and build learning capture.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives (e.g., 5S, Kaizen, Kanban, SMED, line balancing) to reduce waste, improve throughput, and increase first-pass yield through built-in quality and error-proofing.
• Support cost and investment decisions by quantifying labor, equipment, and space requirements; contribute to make/buy analyses and capital justifications. 

Requirements

• B.S. in Electrical Engineering, or related engineering discipline with 10+ years’ experience directly supporting NPI and sustaining electrical manufacturing; aerospace/defense and high-mix electromechanical assembly preferred.
• Demonstrated success leading DFM/DFT and PFMEA cross-functional design-to-manufacturing efforts.
• Strong NPI/industrialization experience (prototype/pilot/ramp/sustainment) including line readiness, documentation, ramp, and continuous improvement.
• Experience supporting high-volume, high-throughput manufacturing, including designing and scaling automated or semi-automated assembly and test lines.
• Demonstrated experience defining automation equipment requirements specifications and acceptance criteria (URS), supporting capital justifications, and participating in FAT/SAT, process validation, and production ramp to rate.
• Working familiarity with automation technologies and metrics (robotics/cobots, vision systems, automated torque/dispense, conveyors, PLC/HMI concepts, OEE and downtime analysis).