Firestorm Labs
Senior Manager, Mechanical Engineering
$180K–$210K
San Diego, United States · On-site · Manager · Full-time · Posted Oct 30, 2026
- Experience
- 10+ years of mechanical engineering experience; 5+ years of direct people management experience.
- Education
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field; Master's degree preferred.
- Visa sponsorship
- U.S. citizenship required due to ITAR regulations and ability to maintain a Department of Defense (DoD) security clearance. For export-control compliance, eligible applicants must be U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, protected individuals as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or otherwise eligible to obtain required authorizations.
About the job
Leads the mechanical engineering team and technical direction for Firestorm’s sUAS platforms, delivering aircraft hardware from design through qualification and production.
What you'll do
- Set engineering standards, lead design reviews and change control, and represent mechanical engineering in cross-functional teams and program reviews.
- Hire, mentor, and manage a multidisciplinary team, including performance reviews and compensation and leveling decisions.
- Plan engineering resources across programs and drive producibility, productionization, and support for test and fielding events.
What they ask for
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
- U.S. citizenship required due to ITAR regulations and ability to maintain a Department of Defense (DoD) security clearance.
- 10+ years of mechanical engineering experience, including significant time in aerospace, defense, automotive, or comparable hardware-intensive industries.
- 5+ years of direct people management; deep mechanical design expertise and experience taking designs from concept through qualification and production.
Nice to have
- Master's degree.
- Experience leading mechanical teams on airborne platforms such as sUAS, and/or scaling hardware engineering from prototype to rate production.
Pay
$180,000 - $210,000 USD base salary
Tools
Arena PLM, Windchill, Teamcenter, GD&T, CCB, ECR/ECO
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative