Quality Engineering Specialist
Anduril Industries · Costa Mesa, CA
- Level
- Engineer
- Team
- Quality
- Degree
- Required (or equivalent experience)
- Experience asked
- 4+ years
- Industry
- Aerospace & defense
- Posted
- Yesterday
The role in 30 seconds
An engineer-level quality role at Anduril Industries (aerospace & defense) in Costa Mesa, CA. Propose, develop and implement quality assurance policies and procedures and review with the product quality engineers.
- They ask for
- 4+ years · degree required (or equivalent experience)
- Tools it names
- Root cause, GD&T, ISO 9001, IATF 16949, AS9100, Validation (IQ/OQ/PQ)
- Openings
- 3 with this title at this site
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of October 19, 2026
Quality Engineer roles in California: typical posted base $101k–$149k.
Median of the low and high ends of 84 live postings that list pay, out of 179 quality engineer openings in California, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.
California plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →
How this role compares
Against 178 other live quality postings in California.
- Base pay
- Not listed in this posting
- Experience asked
- Less than usual (4+ vs 5+)
Typical $100k–$149k, from 82 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- ✓ Root cause 78%
- FMEA 56%
- Supplier quality 49%
- ✓ AS9100 44%
- ✓ Validation (IQ/OQ/PQ) 44%
- ✓ ISO 9001 40%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
Stands out: this posting asks for MES, which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Quality team at Anduril Industries
We found 2 people at this company and state: 2 in this kind of role. Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. See them ↓
- 2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
Write to Jonathan → (free) - 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- Which standards drive the work here: ISO 13485, IATF 16949, AS9100?
- How much of the job is customer complaints versus prevention?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
- 5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
This plant: Anduril Industries in Costa Mesa
156 other open roles at this site · 2 people we found in quality roles at Anduril Industries.
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- Senior Supplier Industrialization Engineer, Electromagnetic Warfare · Industrial · Senior
- Manufacturing Engineer · Manufacturing
Full description from Anduril IndustriesAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
What you'll do
- ◆Manages the site Materials Review Board (MRB) process
- ◆Be fully imbedded within manufacturing process to actively assist in providing resolution, containment, and improvement to nonconforming materials
- ◆Review Manufacturing Work Instructions and provide feedback
- ◆Support in providing clarification or go/no-go decisions to inspectors
- ◆Lead and own the execution of containment of nonconforming items including inspecting to verify non-conforming parts
- ◆Assist in the root cause analysis
- ◆Manage internal triage with engineering teams to support nonconformance dispositions and ensure the investigative tasks are completed in a timely manner
- ◆Ensure data collection and entry is accurate and complete for the MRB process
- ◆Communicate the process performance and quality issues to key stakeholders to drive improvements
- ◆Track and report out MRB metrics on a weekly basis
- ◆Execute vendor return material authorization (RMA) with partnership between Warehouse and Buyers to ensure material leaves the MRB area for suppliers.
- ◆Manage quality containment process for material, tooling, and inspection equipment that are involved in non-conformances impacting production capacity and capability.
- ◆Create inspection plans for incoming material, in-process inspection steps, and end of line inspection, as per direction from product quality engineers
- ◆Train technicians and inspectors to execute inspection plans and data capture in the process.
- ◆Propose, develop and implement quality assurance policies and procedures and review with the product quality engineers
- ◆Review and propose continuous improvement projects for productivity gains, quality improvements, and benefits to Anduril's quality policy.
- ◆Perform internal audits on processes and procedures, as per direction from Quality Systems Engineer
- ◆Deep dive into data and traceability investigations to identify trends, oddities, inconsistencies, and variation that impacts the effectiveness of processes, procedures, and product quality.
- ◆Stay current with new inspection technologies and techniques and recommend improvements to the inspection process
Required Qualifications
- ✓Associate degree or equivalent in a relevant fields, or equivalent experience in lieu of education .
- ✓4+ years of experience in manufacturing and/or a quality/engineering related role
- ✓Experience in a manufacturing environment supporting HW development and quality management
- ✓Proficiency with computer-aided design (CAD) software and inspection data management software.
- ✓Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
- ✓Attention to detail and strong organizational skills.
- ✓Experience with Calibrated equipment (calipers, micrometers, CMM, Faro arm, OMM, etc.)
- ✓Experience reading and interpreting engineering drawings (wire diagrams, work instructions, CAD)
- ✓Analyze inspection results and provide feedback to production, manufacturing engineering, and quality engineering departments.
- ✓Experience using investigative equipment such as x-ray inspection, digital characterization, material certificate of compliance, etc.
- ✓Experience in a facility with AS9100, ISO9001, IATF 16949 or similar QMS standard
- ✓Experience with validation and testing assemblies and their components
- ✓Experience with communicating with suppliers and cross functional teams
- ✓Must be able to obtain and hold a U.S. TS/SCI security clearance
Preferred Qualifications
- ✓Technical or Associates degree in related quality/mechanical/aerospace engineering field
- ✓Direct experience conducting First Article Inspection and Report for internal manufacturing
- ✓ASQ Certified Quality Engineer, Quality Improvement Associate, or equivalent. IPC-A-610 or IPC-A-620 Certification
- ✓Existing work experience is low rate production manufacturing environment
- ✓Knowledge & understanding of dimensioning and tolerancing as per Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T)
- ✓Experience with inspection of Electrical and Electronic Components (Power Supplies, PCBs, wire-harnesses)
- ✓Experience with Manufacturing processes and their related systems (Jira, MES, ERP, Teamcenter, CAD)
- ✓Experience with auditing processes and procedures in a manufacturing environment
- ✓Detail oriented self starter with minimal oversight - strong ability to communicate with different cross functional teams
US Hourly Range
$48 — $64 USD
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. By bringing the expertise, technology, and business model of the 21st century’s most innovative companies to the defense industry, Anduril is changing how military systems are designed, built and sold. Anduril’s family of systems is powered by Lattice OS, an AI-powered operating system that turns thousands of data streams into a realtime, 3D command and control center. As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting-edge autonomy, AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the military in months, not years.
About the team
We are looking for a Quality Engineering Specialist to join our Anduril team Costa Mesa, CA . This Quality Specialist is a professional who is responsible for monitoring, inspecting and proposing measures to correct or improve the final products in order to meet established quality standards. They are a highly motivated team players who is willing to support a fast paced team environment with strong ownership in successful execution of their statements of work.
Per Anduril's expansion plans, we anticipate this job will be based out of Long Beach, CA beginning late 2027.