Senior Materials & Processes Engineer

The role

This engineer will own coatings, materials, finishes, joining methods, and manufacturing-process standards for spacecraft programs. You will develop material-selection and process-control strategies and solve material and manufacturing problems.

What you will do

• Develop and own spacecraft M&P standards, specifications, and qualification approaches.
• Define material-selection criteria for performance, reliability, and manufacturability.
• Establish traceability, handling, storage, and inspection requirements for materials.
• Serve as technical authority for M&P decisions during design reviews and anomaly investigations.
• Guide selection and qualification of metals, coatings, polymers, adhesives, and other materials.
• Develop and execute material and process characterization or qualification tests.
• Lead development of an in-house white-paint capability.
• Establish requirements for polymeric systems including adhesives, sealants, and gaskets.
• Characterize bolted-joint friction, lubrication, and torque-tension behavior.
• Partner with design, manufacturing, and suppliers to ensure reliable processing and production.

Required qualifications

• BS or MS in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related field.
• Significant experience in materials and processes, manufacturing/process engineering, materials qualification, or reliability engineering for high-reliability hardware.
• Demonstrated experience taking a material or manufacturing process from development through qualification, documentation, and production implementation.
• Strong practical experience in multiple relevant areas such as coatings/finishes, polymerics/adhesives, thermal interface materials, mechanical joints/fasteners, metals, ceramics, manufacturing proces
• Experience designing and executing materials or process tests; interpreting data; and resolving failures, anomalies, or nonconformances.
• Experience authoring technical specifications, process instructions, qualification plans, test procedures, reports, and acceptance criteria.
• Ability to work directly with hardware, process equipment, suppliers, and test setups.
• Strong ownership, communication, organization, and cross-functional problem-solving skills.

Nice to have

• Experience with spacecraft M&P, including vacuum compatibility, contamination control, outgassing, thermal cycling, and environmental qualification.
• Experience developing or qualifying spacecraft coatings, paints, conversion coatings, plating, anodize, passivation, thermal-control films, or other surface treatments.
• Deep experience with structural or thermal adhesives, epoxies, silicones, sealants, potting compounds, thermal interface materials, gaskets, bonded joints, and polymeric-material qualification.
• Experience with bolted-joint characterization, torque-tension testing, lubricant selection, preload control, or friction testing.
• Familiarity with ceramic, refractory, thermal-control, or high-temperature material systems.
• Strong knowledge of statistical data analysis and reliability methods.
• Experience evaluating die casting, molding, additive manufacturing, or other advanced/scalable production methods.
• Experience working with external suppliers and laboratories to develop process controls and qualification evidence.
• Experience with failure analysis or materials characterization techniques.
• Experience in a startup or fast-moving hardware organization.

About the company

Xona is the navigational intelligence company bringing real-time, centimeter-level certainty to any device, anywhere on Earth. With Pulsar, Xona will offer a future-proof, backwards-compatible global positioning system optimized for absolute precision, superior power, and robust protection.