Design Engineer III

Job Title: Design Engineer III Job Description
This Design Engineer III role sits within a fast-paced aerospace and defense environment focused on integrated missile and defense systems across air, land, and sea. You will lead mechanical design efforts for mission-critical hardware, including launch systems, propulsion, payload integration solutions, UAV components, missile subsystems, and Safe & Arm systems. From early concept through delivery, you will own designs, drive engineering execution, guide junior engineers, and support manufacturing and testing activities. You will translate demanding customer and program requirements into robust, producible mechanical designs that meet stringent performance, quality, and cost targets while helping shape new business opportunities.
Responsibilities
- Lead mechanical design activities for aerospace mechanical systems, structures, and mechanisms in alignment with customer and program requirements.
- Develop conceptual and detailed 2D layouts and 3D solid models to define mechanical designs using modern CAD tools.
- Perform mechanical engineering calculations and analyses, including stress and structural analysis, to validate safe operation and compliance with specifications.
- Review and verify calculations, analyses, and design work completed by peers and junior engineers to ensure technical accuracy and quality.
- Document design requirements, test plans, test procedures, test reports, and compliance evidence to support qualification and production.
- Evaluate design concepts for cost, manufacturability, and quality, incorporating design for manufacturability principles and production constraints.
- Create complete engineering drawing packages, including detailed drawings, bills of materials, manufacturing requirements, inspection specifications, and tolerance stack-ups in accordance with ASME drafting standards and GD&T.
- Support manufacturing, assembly, quality assurance, testing, and deployment throughout the product lifecycle, from prototype through qualification and production.
- Provide technical support to internal cross-functional teams and external customers, including input for proposals and business development activities.
- Mentor and guide junior engineers, serving as a technical resource for mechanical design, aerospace materials selection, machining design, and structural analysis.
- Apply deep knowledge of aerospace materials and alloys, including aluminum and stainless alloys, material properties, tempers, and aerospace surface finishes and post-processing.
- Design machined components with a strong understanding of conventional machining processes, ensuring features are manufacturable and compatible with machining and post-processing operations.
- Incorporate design for manufacturability (DFM) principles to reduce lead times, lower costs, and simplify complex multi-vendor supply chains.
- Participate in and support development testing and qualification activities for aerospace and defense hardware, including missile and propulsion systems.
- Contribute to continuous improvement of design standards, drafting practices, and engineering processes to enhance reliability and repeatability of qualification-tested hardware.
Essential Skills
- Bachelors degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience and professional registration.
- Typically 47 years of aerospace or defense engineering experience, with direct involvement in mechanical hardware design.
- Proven experience leading the design of robust mechanical hardware for aerospace or defense applications.
- Solid understanding of multiple engineering technologies related to mechanical systems design, including structures, mechanisms, and propulsion-related hardware.
- Strong, demonstrable knowledge of aerospace materials and alloys, particularly aluminum alloys and tempers, stainless steels, composite materials, and their material properties and suitability for aerospace hardware.
- Ability to discuss and select appropriate aluminum alloys and tempers, common aerospace surface finishes and post-processing methods, and stainless alloys used in aerospace applications.
- Deep understanding of design for manufacturability and machining, including conventional machining processes, machinable features, non-manufacturable features, and practical production constraints.
- Experience working directly with manufacturers to get components produced, including consideration of post-processing and surface treatments.
- Strong capabilities in stress and structural analysis, including hand calculations, material strength assessment, preliminary sizing, and design analysis for mechanical and propulsion-related hardware.
- Ideally, experience with finite element analysis (FEA) or finite element modeling for structural and mechanical components.
- High proficiency in SolidWorks for 3D modeling and 2D drawings, including creation of complete drafting packages.
- Hands-on experience with Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) and ASME drafting standards.
- Ability to create and manage bills of materials (BOMs) and complete drawing packages suitable for manufacturing and inspection.
- Knowledge of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools for mechanical systems.
- Knowledge of military and commercial design specifications relevant to aerospace and defense mechanical hardware.
- Capability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Department of Defense Secret security clearance.
Additional Skills & Qualifications
- Experience with energetics, solid rocket motors, and propellant systems.
- Background in propulsion systems, including solid rocket motor nozzle or related hardware.
- Experience working on missile systems, defense programs, or advanced aerospace/defense applications.
- Prior exposure to qualification-tested aerospace hardware and qualification processes.
- Experience with composite materials and composite insulators in aerospace applications.
- Familiarity with major propulsion and defense contractors and programs.
- Experience with finite element analysis (FEA) tools for detailed structural and thermal analysis.
- Demonstrated ability to support products through the full lifecycle, from design and analysis through manufacturing, hardware build, testing, qualification, and production.
- Interest in career growth opportunities, with potential progression from Design Engineer III to Senior-level roles.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams including Systems, Test, Manufacturing, Quality, and Program Management.
Work Environment
The role is based in a hands-on aerospace and defense engineering environment that supports complex mechanical and propulsion hardware from concept through qualification and production. Engineers work closely with physical hardware and participate in design, analysis, manufacturing support, integration, development testing, and qualification activities. Collaboration is frequent with Design, Systems, Development/Test, Manufacturing, Quality, and Program Management teams, creating a highly integrated product development environment. Work is predominantly onsite to enable direct support of hardware builds and test operations, with certain positions working particularly closely with onsite qualification testing in the Mt. Vernon/Skagit area. The organization maintains a large portfolio of space and defense programs, offering exposure to propulsion and launch systems, missile systems, spacecraft, and advanced defense applications, and providing visible opportunities for professional growth and increasing responsibility.
Job Type & Location
This is a Permanent position based out of Mukilteo, WA.
Pay and Benefits
The pay range for this position is $120000.00 - $150000.00/yr. Individual compensation offered for this position within this range will depend on many factors, including qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, geographic location, internal equity, and other pertinent job-related factors. Medical, dental and vision
401(k) with company match
PTO
HSA with company contribution
FSA
Company-paid life and AD&D
Short-term disability
Long-term disability
Tuition reimbursement
Job Type & Location
This is a Permanent position based out of Mukilteo, WA.
Application Deadline
This position is anticipated to close on Nov 26, 2026.
Workplace Type
This is a fully onsite position in Mukilteo,WA. About Actalent

Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 20,000 consultants and 5,000 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500. We are proud to be an Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firm for our engineering design services and a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing® winner for both client and talent service.

The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without
regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability,
sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected
by law.

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San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance:
Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, for all positions located in the
city and county of San Francisco, we will consider for employment qualified applicants
with arrest and conviction records.

Massachusetts Lie Detector:
It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a
condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law
shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI):
We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our hiring process,
including sourcing, screening, and evaluating candidates. AI helps assess applications
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