R&D Engineering Fabrication Technician

About the team

Lethality Engineering develops and tests advanced ordnance and munitions technologies. The team turns early concepts into physical prototypes, learns through rigorous testing, and partners across engineering, test, safety, manufacturing, and operations to move promising designs toward reliable products.

About the job

We are looking for an R&D Engineering Technician with strong prototype-machining and fabrication capability to turn approved CAD and drawings into test-ready hardware in Costa Mesa, California. Roughly half of the role is mechanical fabrication; the balance includes instrumentation, harness troubleshooting, supplier coordination, and development-test operations. You will work directly with engineers to identify manufacturability risks, make or procure prototype parts, and move fast without compromising safety, documentation, or design authority.

What you'll do

• Machine and fabricate one-off and low-volume prototype parts from approved CAD, drawings, and technical direction using appropriate manual, CNC, hand-fabrication, tooling, fixture, or rapid-rework methods.
• Review parts with engineers and provide specific feedback on manufacturability, tolerances, materials, tooling, access, inspection, and lower-risk fabrication approaches.
• Create purchase requests, coordinate purchase orders, and work directly with internal or external machine shops to resolve drawing questions, schedule work, and confirm finished-part quality.
• Set up and troubleshoot instrumentation, sensors, high-speed imaging, pressure or acoustic measurement systems, and data-acquisition equipment for development testing.
• Build and troubleshoot cables, harnesses, connectors, and electromechanical assemblies using approved drawings, schematics, and inspection methods.
• Prepare and execute approved arena, flight, and system-level tests in partnership with engineering, test, range, and safety teams.
• Maintain accurate build, inspection, supplier, and test records; document redlines, discrepancies, anomalies, and buildability feedback.
• Handle controlled materials and operate equipment only within your qualifications, procedures, and authorization; stop and escalate when conditions change.
• Manage ad hoc requests and competing priorities with limited daily oversight, communicate constraints early, and improve how work enters and moves through the prototype pipeline.

Required qualifications

• 4 or more years of hands-on prototype machining, fabrication, toolroom, model-making, or closely related high-mix hardware experience, or equivalent evidence of independence.
• Demonstrated ability to take an approved CAD model or mechanical drawing to a finished part using mills, lathes, CNC equipment, hand tools, fixtures, and appropriate inspection methods.
• Ability to read mechanical drawings, understand GD&T, tolerances, materials, and inspection requirements, and identify manufacturability constraints before work begins.
• Experience coordinating internal or external machine shops and resolving technical questions while preserving engineering approval boundaries.
• Reliable organization, safety judgment, documentation, and communication across ad hoc work and multiple engineering customers.
• Eligibility to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.

Preferred qualifications

• B.S., Mechanical Engineering
• Mastercam or comparable CAM experience; CMM, metrology, precision inspection, or first-article experience.
• Injection molding, welding, sheet-metal, additive-manufacturing, fixture, tooling, or rapid-rework experience.
• Experience setting up or troubleshooting instrumentation, sensors, high-speed cameras, or data-acquisition systems.
• Experience building or troubleshooting cables, harnesses, connectors, or electromechanical assemblies.
• Hands-on experience with explosives, energetic materials, ordnance, munitions, range operations, or other tightly controlled hazardous work.
• An active U.S. security clearance, CDL or DOT medical card, or relevant hazardous-material qualification when applicable to the confirmed scope.