Senior Design Engineer (Aerospace & Defense Hardware)
Los Angeles, CA (On-site)All locationsLos Angeles, CA (On-site)Hawthorne On-site
$150,000–$200,000 a yearJobFig found this opening at its original source and checks that it remains available.
About the role
Freeform is hiring a Senior Design Engineer focused on aerospace & defense hardware to sit at the intersection of advanced part design and additive manufacturing. This is a deeply technical senior engineering role responsible for rethinking how aerospace and defense hardware is conceived, designed, and produced - not just adapting existing parts for a new process, but fundamentally reimagining what's possible when legacy design constraints no longer apply. You will own complex design challenges end-to-end, working hands-on with some of the most complex hardware in the industry, and serve as a technical authority on where Freeform's platform unlocks performance regimes, architectures, and geometries that were previously impractical or impossible. The core draw of this role is the engineering itself - though this person will also engage directly with some of the most sophisticated frontier companies in the aerospace and defense industr ies .
What you'll bring
- Bachelor's degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering
- 5+ years of experience in a hands-on engineering role within aerospace, defense, or a closely related high-performance industry
- Demonstrated ability to lead complex hardware programs from concept through qualification and production
- Experience designing or analyzing propulsion systems, thermal systems, fluid systems, turbomachinery, or high-performance structural components
- Deep systems-level understanding of complex mechanical hardware and how components function within larger assemblies
- 10+ years of experience in a hands-on engineering role within aerospace, defense, or a closely related high-performance industry
- Familiarity with metal 3D printing or design for additive manufacturing (DFAM) concepts
- Strong intuition for part design, design-for-manufacturing, and how component geometry relates to performance and producibility
- Experience mentoring engineers and providing technical direction on hardware development programs
- Experience carrying hardware through development, qualification, and production ramp
- Ability to clearly communicate complex technical concepts to both engineering and non-engineering stakeholders
- Strong first-principles reasoning and comfort operating in ambiguous, fast-moving problem spaces