Skip to content
CV Rocket
Get started
How it worksThe enginePricingBlogContactSign in

Open nowPosted 45 hours ago

Principal Mechanical Engineer

CHAOS Industries150 open roles

Pay
$160,000 – $260,000 a year
Where
El Segundo, CA, USA
Work mode
On site
Get the CV for this job

From $25 per CV, paid once. No subscription.

Your applicationOpen nowPrincipal Mechanical EngineerCHAOS Industries · El Segundo, CA, USA

  1. YouYes, apply to this one.

  2. CV RocketCV written for this posting.

  3. 25 readersRecruiter, hiring manager, skeptic. Round after round.

  4. CV RocketApplied on CHAOS Industries's own form.

The reply lands in your private mailbox

3×more interviews than doing it yourself with ChatGPT.

The clock on this job

Early applications get read.

11.8% of postings close within 7 days. Measured by our own scanner across the market. CHAOS Industries postings stay open a median of 51 days.

Share of postings closed within
  1. 2.1%1 day
  2. 4.4%3 days
  3. 11.8%7 days
  4. 18.6%14 days
  5. 35.6%30 days
  6. 45.1%60 days
This job: posted 45 hours ago

CHAOS Industries median: 51 days open

The posting

CHAOS Industries is redefining modern defense with a multi-product portfolio that gives the ultimate advantage—domain dominance. The company's products are powered by Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™), empowering warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams to act faster, adapt rapidly, and stay ahead of evolving threats.

CHAOS Industries was founded in 2022 and has raised a total of $1 billion in funding from leading investors, including 8VC, Accel, and Valor Equity Partners. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, and London. For more information, please visit www.chaosinc.com.

Role Overview:

CHAOS is seeking an experienced Principal Mechanical Engineer to lead the design, development, and integration of advanced missile and UAV launcher systems. This role owns end-to-end mechanical design from concept development through production and sustainment, of launcher systems supporting solid rocket motor effectors, turbine-powered UAVs, and electrically powered UAV systems across mobile ground and maritime platforms. This role collaborates closely across functions and provides technical management of subcontracts.

This role is suited for engineers who thrive in fast-paced, hands-on environments and are comfortable owning hardware from concept through field deployment.

The ideal candidate has strong hands-on mechanical CAD and system integration experience, demonstrated launcher design and integration success, a deep understanding of ruggedized hardware design, and a proven ability to work independently and guide cross-disciplinary engineering efforts.

This is a full-time, on-site position in Hawthorne, CA. Level (Principal vs Sr Principal) will be determined based on relevant technical and leadership experience.

Responsibilities:

  • Own mechanical architecture and integration of launcher systems across multiple platforms (ground and maritime)
  • Define and manage mechanical and electro-mechanical interfaces between missile, canister, and platform
  • Develop solutions for environmental protection and blast, plume, and thermal effects including gas management, shielding, and structural protection
  • Ensure compliance with safety interlock requirements and launch sequencing constraints.
  • Design mechanical safing features and contribute to system-level hazard analyses.
  • Design and develop mechanisms and actuation systems for deployment, retention, and release
  • Ensure compliance with relevant military standards
  • Serve as a primary technical hardware interface with customers, platform providers, suppliers, and manufacturing partners. Perform make/buy assessments
  • Lead integration of launcher systems onto mobile ground and maritime platforms, accounting for structural loads, motion environments, corrosion, and installation constraints
  • Support production transition, configuration control, and fielded system sustainment, including investigation and resolution of integration issues

Minimum Requirements:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related discipline
  • 10+ years of progressively responsible experience in mechanical design and system integration for aerospace or defense
  • Demonstrated experience designing missile launcher systems or closely related hardware
  • Strong background in structural design, mechanisms, and ruggedized hardware for harsh environments
  • Experience with electro-mechanical integration, including power and data interfaces and connector systems
  • Working knowledge of blast, thermal, and dynamic loads associated with rocket or missile systems
  • Familiarity with system safety principles, including safe-and-arm or fuzing interfaces and launch interlocks
  • Strong proficiency with CAD tools (e.g., SolidWorks or equivalent) and experience designing large assemblies
  • Solid understanding of mechanical interfaces, tolerancing, alignment, installation practices, and interface control documents (ICDs)
  • Experience interpreting and applying military standards (e.g., MIL-STD-810) and environmental qualification practices
  • Demonstrated ability to lead technical decisions and resolve cross-disciplinary integration challenges
  • Strong communication skills and ability to operate across multiple programs
  • Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance

Preferred Requirements:

  • Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related field
  • Prior experience serving as a mechanical technical authority on a program
  • Experience planning, instrumenting, and executing hardware tests
  • Experience with designing and integrating mechanisms and actuation systems
  • Experience with system-level requirements allocation
  • Familiarity with vehicle integration constraints, including shock, vibration, transport, and operational loads
  • Experience with at least one commercial FEA or multiphysics simulation package (NASTRAN, ABAQUS, ANSYS, CFD codes, COMSOL, etc.)
  • Knowledge of manufacturing and assembly processes for mobile or deployable mechanical structures and mechanisms
  • Experience with prototyping, additive manufacturing, CNC machining, and other fabrication techniques
  • Familiarity with military-style connectors (e.g., mil-circular 38999, ARINC, micro-D)

Why CHAOS?

  • Health Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision benefits 100% paid for by the company
  • Additional benefits: 401k (+ 50% company match up to 6% of pay), FSA, HSA, life insurance, and more
  • Our Perks: Free daily lunch, ‘No meeting Fridays’, unlimited PTO, casual dress code
  • Compensation Components: Competitive base salaries, generous pre-IPO stock option grants, relocation assistance, and (coming soon!) annual bonuses
  • Team Growth: 250 employees and counting across 5 global offices

$160k-260k

The stated compensation range reflects only the targeted base compensation range and excludes additional earnings such as bonus, equity, and benefits. If your compensation requirements fall outside of the range, we still encourage you to apply. The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations.

Recruiting Agencies: CHAOS Industries does not accept unsolicited resumes or outreach. Unsolicited submissions will not be reviewed or compensated.

#LI-onsite

Posting text belongs to the employer. Removal requests: contact us.

From $25, paid onceGet the CV for this job

What happens when you press

One press. We do the rest.

  1. A CV for this posting

    Written against CHAOS Industries's own wording, from every piece of relevant proof in your profile.

  2. 25 readers review it

    Recruiter, hiring manager, skeptic and more read every draft, round after round. You get the best round.

    The review screen in CV Rocket: how each CV was read, round by round.

  3. We apply on CHAOS Industries's form

    Our application engine gets through the hardest forms there are. Where a question needs you, AI suggests the best answer. Don't want us applying from our IP addresses? Use our Chrome extension: we apply straight from your own browser.

    An application in CV Rocket: every answer filled in on the employer's form.

  4. Every reply, sorted

    CHAOS Industries's answer lands in your private mailbox, and we classify it on arrival: interview, question, rejection.

    The CV Rocket inbox: each employer reply classified as an interview, an action or a rejection.

  5. Reply with AI

    AI helps you write the email, checks it and sends it. We show you whether the recruiter read it.

  6. The interview in your calendar

    Full integration with your calendar. The invitation goes straight in.

    An interview invitation in the CV Rocket inbox, added to the candidate's calendar.
Get the CV for this job

From $25 per CV, paid once. No subscription.

Why it works

3×

more interviews than doing it yourself with ChatGPT.

ChatGPT writes a CV and never learns what happened to it. We see every reply. For each CV we know:

  • How it was written, and how the review scored it
  • When we applied, and how long after the posting went up
  • Which posting, which company, which city
  • Who got the interview, and who heard nothing

That is how we know which CVs get called.

Get the CV for this job

From $25 per CV, paid once. No subscription.

The numbers game

More applications. More interviews.

Every application goes out with its own CV, written for that posting and paid once. Send enough of them and the law of large numbers finds you the job.

Get the CV for this job
By hand5–10
With CV Rocket100
applications a day

Nearby

Live postings like this one

Same employer first, then the same role elsewhere.

Before you press

Straight answers

Get the CV for this job

From $25 per CV, paid once. No subscription.

What if my background isn't good enough?

We make the most of the background you have. The CV uses every piece of relevant proof your profile holds, and one of the 25 readers reads your whole profile and flags what the CV left out.

Do you really apply for me?

Yes, on the employer's own form, the hardest ones included. Where a question needs you, you answer it right there and AI suggests the best answer. Don't want us applying from our IP addresses? Use our Chrome extension: we apply straight from your own browser.

Is it a subscription?

No. You pay once per CV, from $25. Every application goes out with its own CV, written for that posting.

One job. One CV.
Paid once.

Pick the posting you want. We write for it, apply for you and catch the reply.

Get the CV for this job

From $25 per CV, paid once. No subscription.