Materials Engineer, Rocket Motor Systems at Anduril Industries · LumiJobs

Responsibilities

This is a role you'll grow into. Alongside a supportive team, you'll help build the M&P infrastructure that lets the RMS team scale from prototype development to high-rate production, contributing to the material specifications, process specifications, acceptance test procedures, and design allowables that turn fast-moving development work into clear, configuration-controlled engineering documentation. You'll take on more ownership as you go, and you'll have experienced engineers around you to learn from while you do.
We're looking for someone with solid materials-science fundamentals for aerospace applications, a habit of documenting their work so others can build on it, and genuine curiosity about how materials behave in the real world. You might be early in your career or already deep in it, either way, you like being hands-on in the lab and thinking about how to make good work repeatable.
Connect polymeric material properties, characterization, and processing fundamentals to solid rocket motor design, formulation, testing, manufacturing, and performance
Build and maintain material specifications that connect system performance requirements to formulation for polymeric materials spanning raw materials, components, and assemblies, including liners, seals, propellants, cases (metal and composite), ablatives, insulators, adhesives, and coatings
Develop standard testing procedures to characterize the mechanical, viscoelastic, thermal, and surface behavior of polymeric materials across solid rocket motor components and assemblies
Create process specifications for manufacturing operations including propellant processing, ablative manufacturing, insulation/liner bonding and surface preparation, surface modification, coating application, adhesive curing, heat treatment, and final assembly
Run materials characterization for polymeric materials including mechanical testing (tensile, shear, flexural, bonding), thermal analysis, rheology, cure kinetics, surface energy and interfaces, and ablation performance
Develop design allowables from characterization results per industry standards (CMH-17, JANNAF)
Partner with design and manufacturing teams to review drawings and manufacturing plans, support design reviews, and troubleshoot production issues
Work across science, engineering, manufacturing, quality, and program teams to turn mission requirements into right-sized material and process solutions
Contribute to cost-reduction and cycle-time improvement efforts for high-rate production and prepare technical documentation that lets us move fast without losing rigor

Qualification

Bachelor's degree in Materials ScienceMust be able to obtain and maintain a UFamiliarity with MIL-STDs

Required

Bachelor's degree in Materials Science, Polymer Engineering, Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related field
2+ years of materials and process engineering experience in material testing for aerospace, propulsion, or defense applications
Working knowledge in one or more of the following (with interest in growing into the others): polymer mechanics and rheology, propellant materials and processing, adhesive bonding, cure kinetics, and surface preparation
Exposure to developing material or process specifications
Experience with material characterization, testing, and documentation
Strong technical writing and attention to detail
Ability to manage multiple priorities independently in a fast-paced environment
Must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. Top Secret security clearance

Preferred

Master's or Doctorate in Materials Science, Polymer Engineering, Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related field
Direct experience with materials used in solid rocket motors, including insulation, seals, propellants, motor cases, nozzles, and energetic components
Depth or growing interest in two or more of the following: high-temperature coatings, adhesives, insulation, liners, and ablatives; polymer surface characterization and modification; interfacial mechanics, chemistry, and behavior (polymer-to-polymer, metal-to-polymer, ceramic-to-polymer)
Hands-on experience with polymer processing, propellant processing, composite fabrication, ablative manufacturing, or metal case production
Experience developing design allowables per CMH-17, JANNAF, or MIL-HDBK-17 standards
Experience with NDI methods and developing inspection procedures
Experience characterizing polymer material interfaces across solid rocket motor systems (insulation-to-propellant, insulation-to-motor case, seals-to-motor case) via mechanical, thermal, and/or spectroscopy methods
Familiarity with MIL-STDs, AIAA standards, and JANNAF best practices

Materials Engineer, Rocket Motor Systems

Responsibilities

Qualification

Required

Preferred

Benefits

Company

Anduril Industries

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