Lead Additive Manufacturing Engineer

The role

The Lead Additive Manufacturing Engineer will own the development of the metal printing platform across LPBF and DED-based approaches. This person will work with the Founder and CEO to shape the technical direction of the manufacturing platform using aluminum and copper systems infused with carbon nanomaterials.

What you will do

• Own the additive manufacturing roadmap across LPBF and DED workflows
• Define and optimize print processes for copper and aluminum
• Establish process windows to preserve conductivity and mechanical integrity
• Serve as the internal expert on metal AM process physics and machine behavior
• Lead design-for-additive-manufacturing decisions
• Diagnose and solve print failures
• Build qualification plans, process documentation, and acceptance criteria
• Define feedstock, shielding gas, and contamination-control practices
• Use DOE, data analysis, and root-cause methods to optimize process windows
• Partner with nanomaterials, characterization, mechanical, and product engineering

Required qualifications

• MS, or PhD in metallurgical engineering, mechanical engineering, materials science, manufacturing engineering, welding engineering, physics, or a related field
• 8+ years of hands-on experience in metal additive manufacturing, advanced process development, or closely related manufacturing systems
• Deep expertise in metal AM processes, especially LPBF
• Strong understanding of lasers, optics, melt pool physics, heat transfer, solidification, residual stress, and metallurgical process-structure-property relationships
• Demonstrated experience developing, optimizing, troubleshooting, and scaling AM processes in real hardware environments
• Strong scientific and technical writing skills

Nice to have

• Experience printing aluminum and/or copper alloys
• Experience with machine-level AM development, including motion systems, powder handling, feedstock delivery, sensing, or controls
• Experience qualifying and scaling AM hardware in a high-performance manufacturing environment
• Familiarity with CAD and AM build preparation tools, including slicing, scan strategy setup, support generation, and print simulation workflows
• Familiarity with metal matrix composites or other non-standard AM material systems

Benefits

• Competitive cash compensation
• Meaningful equity
• Direct technical ownership over a core manufacturing platform
• Relocation support for employees moving from outside the Los Angeles area

About the company

Arcturus is creating a new wire technology stack that uses carbon nanomaterials to improve the performance of electric motors for drones and robotics, heat sinks, and the energy grid.