Staff Mechanical Engineer

The role

The Staff Mechanical Engineer will lead the mechanical design, packaging, integration, and qualification of 3U and 6U VPX electronic cards, chassis, and backplanes. This role spans the product lifecycle from concept development through production, fielding, and sustainment for aerospace and defense applications.

What you will do

• Lead mechanical design and packaging of 3U and 6U VPX cards, chassis, card cages, backplanes, and electronic assemblies
• Develop mechanical architectures, interfaces, card-cage layouts, and thermal interfaces
• Design and integrate VPX mechanical features like card guides, wedgelocks, and front panels
• Create, review, and maintain 3D CAD models, production drawings, and interface control documents
• Apply OpenVPX and VITA standards to packaging and system integration
• Perform or support structural and thermal analyses and design verification
• Develop mechanical solutions for conduction, air-flow-through, and liquid cooling
• Collaborate with electrical, RF, thermal, manufacturing, and systems engineering teams
• Support prototype fabrication, assembly, qualification testing, and production transition

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related discipline
• 7+ years of progressively responsible experience in mechanical design and integration of electronic hardware for aerospace, defense, or similar applications
• Demonstrated experience designing mechanical packaging for 3U and 6U VPX or OpenVPX cards, chassis, card cages, or related systems
• Strong proficiency with mechanical CAD tools, such as SolidWorks or equivalent
• Experience producing and reviewing production-ready mechanical drawings using GD&T, tolerance analysis, and configuration-controlled documentation
• Experience with VPX connectors, backplanes, card guides, wedgelocks, front panels, alignment features, and card-retention methods
• Working knowledge of applicable VITA and OpenVPX standards, such as VITA 46, VITA 47, VITA 48, and VITA 65
• Understanding of mechanical interfaces, tolerancing, alignment, installation practices, and connector integration
• Familiarity with structural and thermal analysis methods, including hand calculations and FEA
• Demonstrated experience designing or integrating ruggedized hardware for shock, vibration, thermal, and other environmental requirements
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work effectively across multidisciplinary teams
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance

Nice to have

• Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related field
• Experience with VITA 46, VITA 47, VITA 48, VITA 65, or related OpenVPX specifications and system profiles
• Experience designing conduction-cooled, air-flow-through, or liquid-cooled VPX packaging
• Experience with thermal interface materials, heat frames, heat spreaders, cold plates, heat exchangers, or other electronics cooling solutions
• Experience with EMI/EMC shielding, gasketing, grounding, environmental sealing, and connector backshells
• Experience with commercial FEA or thermal simulation tools, such as ANSYS, NASTRAN, ABAQUS, COMSOL, or similar tools
• Experience with machined, sheet-metal, cast, extruded, or additive-manufactured chassis and electronic packaging
• Experience supporting cable harness routing, connector layouts, electromechanical integration, and production transition
• Experience supporting environmental qualification testing, including thermal cycling, vibration, shock, and ingress protection
• Working knowledge of VME/VMEbus open-architecture electronics

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision benefits 100% paid for by the company
• 401k with 50% company match up to 6% of pay
• FSA
• HSA
• life insurance
• Free daily lunch
• No meeting Fridays
• unlimited PTO
• casual dress code
• pre-IPO stock option grants
• relocation assistance
• annual bonuses (coming soon)

Before you apply

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance

About the company

CHAOS Industries was founded in 2022 and has raised $1 billion in funding. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles and develops products powered by Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™) for defense and commercial use.