Senior Materials and Process Engineer, Space

Anduril's Space team is dedicated to expanding AI-powered capabilities into space, enhancing Space Domain Awareness, Space Control, and Command and Control for U.S. military and allied partners.

The Senior Materials and Process Engineer, Space will play a crucial role in developing and implementing standards, testing, and characterizing materials for space hardware.

Responsibilities:

Standards Development & Implementation

• Maintain material and process standards, including banned/approved materials lists, common material coatings, and corrosion prevention requirements.
• Develop and advance hardware design standards and common parts libraries.
• Support comprehensive technical documentation.

Testing & Characterization

• Design and conduct testing to establish materials performance properties.
• Manage relationships with internal and external test laboratories.
• Accelerate material evaluation, implementation, and qualification.

Contamination Control

• Develop and manage contamination budgets across multiple space programs.
• Implement and monitor contamination controls in assembly, integration, and test environments.
• Establish contamination monitoring protocols and cleanliness verification procedures.

EEE Parts & PCBA Process Oversight

• Develop and maintain EEE parts selection and qualification requirements.
• Define PCBA process specifications.
• Evaluate tin whisker and lead-free solder risks.

Material Selection and Design Support

• Collaborate with design engineers to select materials for spacecraft components.
• Conduct material trade studies.

Cross-Program Leadership

• Prioritize efforts across multiple programs based on technical risk and schedule impact.
• Identify recurring issues and implement scalable solutions.
• Support failure reviews and root cause investigations.

Requirements:

• BS in Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, or related field.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience with space hardware materials and processes.
• Familiarity with space industry standards.
• Proven experience establishing technical standards.
• Strong foundation in materials science principles.
• Demonstrated ability to design experiments and draw defensible engineering conclusions.
• Self-directed work style.
• U.S. citizenship required.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Knowledge of manufacturing processes.
• Experience with contamination control and/or EEE parts selection and PCBA materials.
• Familiarity with cleanroom classification levels and operations.
• Experience with outgassing characterization.
• Experience with EEE parts qualification and destructive physical analysis.
• Knowledge of manufacturing processes.
• Experience with conformal coating selection and application processes.
• Prior electronic failure analysis experience.
• Experience with contamination modeling tools.
• Proficiency in interpreting data from different material characterization techniques.
• Understanding of space environment effects.
• Experience in adjacent high-reliability industries.

Salary Range: $132,000-$198,000 USD