Mechanical Engineer

Mechanical Engineering Manager/Production Manager, Las Vegas Defense Manufacturing

Company: Defense-technology company (name shared under NDA)

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, on-site

Compensation: $70,000 to $100,000, plus incentives

Eligibility: U.S. citizenship required

Confidential Search · Defense Technology

Confidential search. The hiring company's identity is shared with candidates under NDA.

About the Client

A founder-led defense technology company building deployable position, navigation, and timing (PNT) hardware for the U.S. Army. The company is moving three product lines out of prototype and onto a production floor of its own in Las Vegas, with engineering based in Northern Virginia. This is a place where the work you own is the work that ships: a small team, real hardware, and fielding timelines that do not move.

About the Role

This is a floor job for an engineer early in their career who wants to run something instead of analyze it. You own day-to-day production in the Las Vegas facility: the daily schedule, the work orders, the technicians on shift, and whether what got built today meets spec. You will not inherit a mature line. The facility is still being outfitted and the technician team is still being hired, so you will help build the operation you are going to run, and you will learn it by doing it with the founders and the engineering team in the room. Someone who wants a defined lane and an established process should not apply.

Responsibilities

Daily production execution. Build the daily and weekly build schedule, release and track work orders, assign technicians to stations, and report output and yield against Year 1 LRIP targets across three product lines.

Technicians. Help hire, onboard, and train the production technician team. Qualify every technician against the documented assembly procedures before they touch a live production lot, and supervise the shift once they are on it.

Quality on the floor. Working with the Manufacturing Engineer and QA technicians, hold the inspection points and acceptance criteria on every build, document nonconformances, and drive them to closure rather than around them.

Floor readiness. Support facility outfitting: tooling delivery, workstation layout and installation, consumables and material staging, 5S, and safety compliance, so the floor is ready for LRIP production on schedule.

Continuous improvement. Run time studies, redline work instructions that do not survive contact with the floor, and feed build problems back to the engineering team in Northern Virginia so the next revision is better.

Requirements

Must-Haves

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. Aerospace, manufacturing, or industrial engineering also considered.
• Roughly 1 to 2 years of post-graduate experience in a manufacturing, production, or hardware environment. Relevant internships and co-ops count.
• Genuinely hands-on: comfortable reading drawings and work instructions, and comfortable being on the floor with the hardware rather than at a desk.
• Organized under pressure, with the judgment to hold a quality line when the schedule is pushing the other way.
• Willing to be on-site in Las Vegas full time.
• U.S. citizenship, and the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance.

Nice-to-Haves

• Electronics or precision hardware assembly experience.
• Exposure to ERP or MES production scheduling and work order systems.
• Defense or aerospace production under AS9100.
• Low-rate initial production, or any low-volume, high-mix environment with heavy change traffic.
• Prior military maintenance or production experience.
• Lean manufacturing or Six Sigma coursework or certification.

Process

This is a confidential search. An NDA is required before the company's identity and full role details are shared. We screen for interest at a high level first, then read candidates in once an NDA is in place.

This position supports U.S. Government work subject to export control regulations. Applicants must be U.S. persons. The hiring company is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.