Mechanical Engineer

Mechanical Engineer – Munition Systems

Location: Los Angeles, CA or San Francisco Bay Area, CA

About Kela

Kela is a defense technology company building the open, modular operating system that allied militaries use to win software-defined warfare. Founded just over 1.5 years ago, Kela has grown from an ambitious idea to a $1.2B unicorn in under two years—driven by real operational success, not hype.

Kela's platform integrates AI, sensors, autonomy, and edge devices into military systems, enabling real-time battlefield decision-making across counter-UAS, counter-intrusion, base security, border protection, and armored vehicle missions. The company has achieved something exceptionally rare in defense: five products reaching Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 9, the highest level of operational readiness, in a matter of months rather than years.

Today, Kela supports more than 40 active operational deployments and has secured $50M+ in signed contracts. The company has been selected as a preferred vendor for the Department of Defense's Drone Dominance program and won the Lethality Prize Challenge, earning preferred vendor status and an expedited safety review process.

Backed by Sequoia Capital, Lux Capital, In-Q-Tel (the CIA's strategic investment arm), D1 Capital Partners, Bill Ackman, and Eric Schmidt, Kela is one of the fastest-growing companies in defense technology.

Joining Kela means becoming part of the founding layer of the U.S. engineering organization within a well-funded Series C company. Engineers have significant ownership, direct access to leadership, meaningful equity upside, and the opportunity to build products that will directly shape the future of modern warfare. Kela's culture is high-trust, fast-moving, mission-driven, and built around engineers who take ownership and execute.

About The Role

We're building a compact, safety-critical kinetic munition designed for deployment from an FPV-class airframe. The system incorporates an electromechanical Safe & Arm Device (EMSAD) governed by a seven-state safety-arm-fire state machine, multiple electromechanical safing features, and an integrated sensor suite.

Every component must survive flight loads, vibration, drop events, and harsh field handling while maintaining fail-safe behavior under all operating conditions.

As the Mechanical Engineer, you will own the mechanical design from concept through production, leading development of the munition's structural and mechanical systems while partnering closely with electrical and software engineers.

Responsibilities

• Own the complete mechanical design of the munition system from concept through production.
• Design the munition housing, internal structures, and mechanical arming mechanisms, including: Safe & Arm (S&A) train, Transport pin, Motor-driven mechanisms
• Develop CAD models and manufacturing documentation for production-ready hardware.
• Define the mechanical safety architecture alongside hardware and software engineering teams.
• Design and validate: Mechanical interlocks, Out-of-line safety geometry, Transport pin retention, Drop and impact protection, Fail-safe mechanical behavior
• Specify materials, coatings, finishes, tolerances, and fastening methods for demanding operating environments, including vibration, shock, temperature extremes, humidity, and salt fog.
• Build rapid prototypes using in-house 3D printing and CNC capabilities.
• Prepare manufacturing drawings and Design for Manufacturing (DFM) packages for external machine shops and injection molding vendors.
• Plan and execute mechanical qualification testing.
• Own the mechanical Bill of Materials (BOM).
• Manage weight and center-of-gravity (CG) budgets throughout development.
• Collaborate daily with electrical and software engineers

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience designing rugged mechanical assemblies for fielded products in industries such as: Defense, Aerospace, UAVs, Other high-reliability or regulated environments
• Proficiency with one or more modern parametric CAD platforms
• Experience producing manufacturing-ready engineering drawings
• Hands-on prototyping experience Strong intuition for mechanical failure modes and root-cause analysis.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing safety and arming (S&A) mechanisms, fuzing systems, pyrotechnic devices, or other safety-critical mechanical systems.
• Familiarity with defense or aerospace qualification standards such as:
• MIL-STD-810 (Environmental Testing)
• MIL-STD-331 (Fuze Testing)
• Equivalent commercial standards
• Experience performing Finite Element Analysis (FEA) using tools such as:
• ANSYS
• SolidWorks Simulation
• Onshape FEA
• Experience designing for injection molding or metal casting manufacturing processes.
• Background integrating payloads into FPV drones or small UAV platforms with a strong understanding of mass and center-of-gravity optimization.

Why Join Kela?

• Build products that directly impact national security and the future of software-defined warfare.
• Join the founding U.S. engineering team at one of the fastest-growing defense technology companies in the world.
• Work alongside elite engineers from defense, autonomy, robotics, and AI.
• Own products from concept through deployment with meaningful technical autonomy.
• Competitive compensation, significant equity, and the opportunity to help shape the future of Kela's U.S. organization.