Staff Configuration Management Specialist at Firestorm in San Diego, CA

Job description

Who We Are At Firestorm, we are building the future of expeditionary defense manufacturing and autonomous systems. Modern conflict has exposed a fundamental problem: the systems needed most by operators are often too expensive, too slow to produce, and too difficult to sustain at scale. Firestorm exists to change that. We develop mission-adaptable aerial systems and deployable manufacturing infrastructure designed to put capability directly into the hands of the warfighter. From modular unmanned aircraft to xCell — our deployable microfactory — our goal is to make defense systems rapidly deployable, adaptable, and producible at the point of need. We are looking for builders, operators, and problem-solvers who want to work on meaningful technology with real-world impact. About the Role Firestorm is seeking a Configuration Manager to own product configuration across our aircraft platforms. Modularity is the core of what we build: swappable propulsion, quick-change payload and mission modules, interchangeable radios, sensors, and navigation suites, and airframes that can be printed at the point of need inside an xCell. That flexibility is our competitive advantage — and it multiplies the number of valid configurations we have to be able to define, build, deliver, and support. This role exists to make that modularity manageable. You will be the single source of truth for what a given aircraft actually is: which baseline it was built to, what changed, when the change took effect, what it supersedes, and what is approved to fly. You will own the change control process end to end, define the product structure that lets a modular aircraft family be configured without re-deriving it every time, and extend that control across the digital thread — from requirements and CAD through EBOM and MBOM to the as-built record of a tail number returning from the field. This is a hands-on role reporting into Hardware Engineering, working directly alongside design engineering, production, quality, and supply chain. We are moving fast and building at increasing rate; we need someone rigorous enough to hold the line on the process and pragmatic enough to keep it from becoming a bottleneck. What You'll Do Own the end-to-end engineering change process — ECR authoring and analysis, CCB disposition, release, implementation, and closure verification — and run it at a cadence that matches how fast we build Define and maintain the product variant structure for a modular aircraft family, including option dictionaries, 150% or superset BOMs, and configuration rules, so that a valid aircraft configuration can be specified, quoted, and built without being reinvented each time. Establish and control baselines across the digital thread — requirements, EBOM, MBOM, as-designed, as-built, and as-maintained records — across the Tempest family, Hurricane, El Niño, and future platforms Own part numbering, revision, and effectivity conventions, including the judgment call on when a change warrants a rev roll versus a new part number, and drive that convention consistently across mechanical, electrical, and payload hardware Reconcile configuration deltas between builds: what carried forward from the prior top assembly, what rolled revision, what is net-new, and what that means for parts already purchased or on the shelf Perform inventory disposition analysis on every approved change — use-as-is, rework, scrap, or run-out — so that change decisions are made with the cost and schedule impact visible up front Administer our PLM and CAD data management environment (Arena and SolidWorks today), and support the evaluation and potential migration to a Teamcenter/NX-class toolchain Extend configuration control to additively manufactured articles — print files, build and slicer profiles, material lots, and machine effectivity — so that an airframe produced forward in an xCell is traceable to the same controlled baseline as one built in San Diego Own serialization and as-built reco