Senior DFX Engineer

Worker Type

Regular

Job Description

 

Summary
AV builds proven systems and the future of defense for the warfighter. The Senior DFX Engineer is the enterprise steward of lifecycle-driven design quality, ensuring AV products are buildable, testable, observable, reliable, affordable, and sustainable across their full operational life.

Rather than owning individual programs, this role defines and governs how AV designs for reality across manufacturing, test, supply chain, cost, and obsolescence --so downstream crises are prevented, not fought.

Primary Responsibilities

The Senior DFX Engineer will:

• Define and maintain the enterprise Design-for-X (DFX) framework governing manufacturability, testability & observability, reliability, supply-chain resilience, cost, and sustainment.
• Establish DFX standards, criteria, and maturity gates embedded into early architecture, SRR/PDR/CDR, configuration & release, and platform definition.
• Advise engineering and program leadership by participating in key design and architecture reviews, providing independent lifecycle risk assessments, and recommending balanced design trade-offs.
• Drive design reuse, modularity, and platform commonality through DFX architectures that enable reusable hardware, test/diagnostics, and manufacturing & sustainment models.
• Define and govern Design-for-Test and Design-for-Observability, guide products to include standardized BIT/BITE, self-test, health monitoring, telemetry, and fault isolation so systems can validate and report their own performance from development through fielded operations. 
• Support bid & proposal (B&P) and capture by assessing manufacturability, testability, technology and part maturity, cost and supply-chain exposure, and obsolescence risk --ensuring what AV proposes can be built, tested, and sustained.
• Serve as the escalation and arbitration point for major lifecycle risks (DMSMS, manufacturing infeasibility, inadequate testability/observability, or excessive cost/supplier concentration).
• Define and maintain DFX KPIs (e.g., first-pass yield, test escape rates, repair/return metrics, NRE/recurring cost targets, DMSMS status) and routinely brief leadership on lifecycle health of key platforms.
• Will work with development teams to capture best practices and improve product reliability and capabilities. 

Enterprise Process & Methodology Ownership

The Senior DFX Engineer ensures DFX is a working operating model:

• Design, deploy, and continuously improve enterprise DFX processes integrated into engineering workflows, design reviews, release & change control, and platform architecture.
• Translate DFX principles into repeatable, auditable, and scalable practices so lifecycle-driven design is organic to how AV develops products.
• Establish enterprise standards for testability and observability, making diagnostics, telemetry, and field-level debug design requirements, not afterthoughts. 
• Familiarity with PLM/ERP/data workflows (so DFX outputs map into configuration/parts systems).
• Willingness to travel and work across locations; ability to be tactically assigned to projects.

Basic Qualifications (Required Skills & Experience)

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related field
• 7+ years across hardware design, manufacturing, test, reliability/sustainment, or product realization
• Hands-on experience with Design-for-Manufacturability and/or Design-for-Test on production programs
• Experience influencing architecture, New Product Introduction (NPI), manufacturing & test readiness, and lifecycle planning
• Proven cross-discipline, lifecycle-level thinking

Other Qualifications & Desired Competencies

• Master's degree in Engineering
• Aerospace defense, automotive, high_rate/commercial, production of high-reliability industrial product experience
• Demonstrated ability to institutionalize engineering standards and governance
• Ability to influence without formal authority
• Preferred Clearance  - Secret

Physical Demands

• Ability to sit, stand, stoop, reach, lift (up to 10 lbs.), bend, etc.  Hand and wrist dexterity to utilize the computer.
• May require travel to sites/program and special functions.

Environmental Conditions Critical to Performance

• May have some exposure to outside environment while traveling.

Special Requirements

• U.S. Citizen, U.S. Permanent Resident (Green Card holder) or asylee/refugee status as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) required.
• Must be able to travel within the Continental U.S. and internationally when required.

Clearance Level

 

No Clearance

The salary range for this role is:

$81,481 - $115,500

AeroVironment considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the location, the role and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, education/training, and key skills.

ITAR Requirement:

This position requires access to information that is subject to compliance with the International Traffic Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) and/or the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). In order to comply with the requirements of the ITAR and/or the EAR, applicants must qualify as a U.S. person under the ITAR and the EAR, or a person to be approved for an export license by the governing agency whose technology comes under its jurisdiction. Please understand that any job offer that requires approval of an export license will be conditional on AeroVironment’s determination that it will be able to obtain an export license in a time frame consistent with AeroVironment’s business requirements. A “U.S. person” according to the ITAR definition is a U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder), or protected individual such as a refugee or asylee. See 22 CFR § 120.15. Some positions will require current U.S. Citizenship due to contract requirements.

Benefits:  AV offers an excellent benefits package including medical, dental vision, 401K with company matching, a 9/80 work schedule and a paid holiday shutdown.  For more information about our company benefit offerings please visit:  http://www.avinc.com/myavbenefits.

We also encourage you to review our company website at http://www.avinc.com to learn more about us.

Principals only need apply.  NO agencies please.

About AV:

AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best.

We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve.

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul MacCready, AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next.

If you're ready to build technology that matters—with speed, scale, and purpose—there’s no better place to do it than AV.

 

We are proud to be an EEO/AA Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability/veterans. AeroVironment, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer and welcomes all qualified applicants. Qualified applicants will receive fair and impartial consideration without regard to race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic data, sexual orientation, gender identity or other legally protected status.

ITAR

U.S. Citizenship required. Must be willing to work on government contracts and have the ability to obtain a security clearance.