Avionics Manufacturing Engineer II

About the Company

Our client is a seed-stage startup, building the foundation for a new era of personal flight. Imagine a "driver assist" for pilots. Their system is the next generation cockpit, bringing modern design, dual touch displays, and advanced automation to general aviation.

Their focus is on three critical advancements:

• Completing the unified flight-intelligence platform that blends adaptive software, intuitive cockpit design, and a modern safety envelope. The system will provide intelligent prompts similar to a human flight instructor. It uses AI for radio transcription, allowing you to see conversations and acknowledge commands with a single interaction.
• Developing an in-house fly-by-wire system that severs the physical connection between the control and the surface.
• Coupling their avionics and simplified controls in an entirely new aircraft design that is fundamentally easier and safer to fly.

About the Role

This is a full-time, on-site role for an Avionics Manufacturing Engineer II based in Long Beach, CA at an exciting YC backed startup.

The electrical and mechanical engineers design flight computers, display systems, engine monitoring hardware, power electronics, and integration hardware. Your job is to help turn those designs into products that can be manufactured reliably and efficiently.

You'll work closely with engineering, suppliers, and technicians to improve manufacturability, support production builds, and solve the countless practical problems that arise when taking hardware from prototype to production.

This is an ideal role for someone with a few years of manufacturing or NPI experience who wants broad ownership and the opportunity to learn quickly.

What You'll Do

• Support the transition of new avionics hardware from engineering prototypes into production.
• Work with electrical and mechanical engineers to improve manufacturability during the design process.
• Help identify and qualify suppliers for PCB assemblies, cable assemblies, and other custom hardware.
• Create and maintain assembly work instructions, manufacturing documentation, and inspection procedures.
• Design or improve simple fixtures, tooling, and assembly aids.
• Support first article builds and pilot production runs.
• Investigate manufacturing issues and work with engineering to identify practical solutions.
• Help improve assembly quality, production efficiency, and repeatability.
• Spend time on the production floor working directly with technicians to understand build challenges.

Basic Qualifications

• Approximately 2–5 years of experience in manufacturing engineering, NPI, production engineering, or a similar hands-on hardware role.
• Experience building electromechanical or electronics products.
• Familiarity with PCB assemblies, cable assemblies, machined parts, and mechanical assemblies.
• Comfortable working directly with suppliers and contract manufacturers.
• Strong mechanical aptitude and a willingness to spend time on the production floor.
• Excited to learn and take on increasing ownership as the company grows.

Preferred Qualifications

• Aerospace or aviation hardware experience.
• Familiarity with IPC standards.
• Experience introducing products from prototype into low-rate production.
• Basic CAD experience for manufacturing fixtures.
• Experience working with PLM or ERP systems.

Your First 90 Days

First 30 days

• Learn our avionics architecture and current processes.
• Build avionics hardware alongside the engineering team.
• Become familiar with our suppliers and manufacturing partners.

Within 60 days

• Take ownership of manufacturing support for one or more assemblies.
• Improve an assembly procedure, fixture, or manufacturing process.
• Support pilot production and engineering builds.

Within 90 days

• Independently drive manufacturing improvements for your assigned hardware.
• Become a trusted partner to the design engineers during new product development.
• Help increase build quality and production efficiency as we prepare for higher production volumes.

Compensation

• Base: $125,000-$155,000
• Equity

Benefits

• 100% employee covered health benefits: medical, dental, and vision
• Unlimited PTO + 3 weeks company is closed, including 2 weeks covering last week of Dec and first week of Jan
• 401k

About Hard Tech Recruit

Hard Tech Recruit is a specialized recruiting firm dedicated to sourcing and placing highly sought-after talent directly for startups at the forefront of advanced hardware innovation. We partner with seed stage startups making their first critical hires, Series A and B companies rapidly scaling engineering teams, and later-stage hardware companies entering new product lines or markets.

Pay: $125,000.00 - $155,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Relocation assistance
• Vision insurance

Work Location: In person