Mechanical Engineer - Additive Tank Product Design & Development Technical Lead - Level 5

Northrop Grumman’s Mission Enabling Products (MEP) team in Commerce, CA is looking for a Mechanical Engineer (Level 5) Technical Lead to drive additively manufactured tank product design and development. In this onsite role, you will act as the technical authority from requirements through architecture, analysis, interfaces, verification, tooling definition, and product qualification.

You will own the product technical baseline and guide how engineering decisions connect to manufacturing readiness, ensuring controlled change management and clear closure between design intent and verification evidence.

What you’ll do

• Own and control product-line requirements, architecture, configurations, interfaces, design rules, verification methods, and the product technical baseline.
• Lead mechanical design for tanks, domes, joints, supports, interfaces, and associated hardware.
• Direct structural, thermal, pressure, fatigue, fracture, buckling, and other required analyses, including model validation and test correlation.
• Own functional GD&T, datum architecture, tolerance stacks, critical characteristics, acceptance criteria, and engineering-definition release; obtain documented manufacturability and inspectability concurrence from the Additive Manufacturing Lead.
• Review DFM/DFA assessments led by the Additive Manufacturing Lead and determine how recommendations are incorporated into the controlled product design.
• Approve design allowables, criteria, and margins using process data and capability evidence provided by the Additive Manufacturing Lead.
• Own joint performance, geometry, interfaces, fits, and acceptance requirements; coordinate with the Additive Manufacturing Lead on joining-process development and qualification.
• Define product-critical assembly, handling, integration, and test-tooling requirements, including loads, interfaces, accuracy, and acceptance criteria, and agree on tooling classification before work begins.
• Define characteristics, tolerances, acceptance criteria, and verification closure; the Additive Manufacturing Lead owns manufacturing inspection methods and process controls.
• Own product verification and qualification, including test articles, instrumentation, acceptance criteria, analysis-to-test correlation, and requirements closure.
• Approve changes affecting requirements, form, fit, function, interfaces, design margins, or product qualification, and define the documented manufacturing envelope for controlled manufacturing changes.
• Lead integrated issue resolution when product performance or design risk is primary, and request concurrence from the Additive Manufacturing Lead when both technical baselines are impacted.
• Recommend design maturity and engineering release; overall program authorization also depends on the separate manufacturing-readiness recommendation from the Additive Manufacturing Lead.
• Mentor engineers and communicate product maturity, margins, risks, decisions, and recommendations to program leadership.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or a related STEM discipline with 12 years of relevant engineering experience; OR Master’s degree in a related STEM discipline with 10 years; OR PhD with 8 years.
• Demonstrated technical leadership of complex mechanical products from requirements through design, analysis, manufacturing, verification, and qualification.
• Demonstrated experience with additive manufacturing or other advanced manufacturing methods and the ability to incorporate these into technical roadmaps.
• Advanced experience with mechanical design, requirements development, engineering definition, GD&T, interface control, and tolerance analysis.
• Experience directing structural and thermal analyses and using results to make product-level decisions.
• Experience leading and influencing cross-functional technical teams and effectively interfacing with customers and senior leadership.
• Experience with pressure-containing, highly loaded, or similarly complex hardware.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams, design reviews, verification planning, and technical-risk resolution without direct reporting authority.
• Ability to obtain and maintain the required security clearance.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience with tanks, pressure vessels, propulsion hardware, or aerospace structures.
• Experience designing metal additively manufactured hardware.
• Knowledge of fatigue, fracture mechanics, damage tolerance, buckling, and pressure-system qualification.
• Experience developing scalable product families or common product architectures.
• Experience defining and overseeing tooling for assembly, handling, integration, and test.
• Familiarity with machining, joining, inspection, additive-process qualification, CAD/PLM, requirements management, and configuration control.

Compensation and location

• Location: Commerce, CA (onsite)
• Salary range: USD 161,000 - 241,400 per year
• Travel: Yes, 10% of the time
• Relocation assistance: May be available

Benefits

• Health insurance coverage
• Life and disability insurance
• Savings plan
• Company-paid holidays
• Paid time off (PTO) for vacation and/or personal business
• Comprehensive Total Rewards and benefits package
• Annual bonuses designed to reward individual contributions and allow employees to share in company results