Director, Non-Destructive Evaluation

Divergent•Torrance, CA

5h•$222,130 - $305,430

About The Position

The Technology organization is the engine that creates DAPS, the 21st-century automated design and manufacturing platform accelerating advancements in aerospace & defense and high-volume automotive markets. The Director, Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) owns the strategy, roadmap, engineering maturity, and operational excellence of Divergent’s NDE capabilities. This leader will build and lead the NDE organization across both method development and production inspection, ensuring Divergent meets customer and industry requirements while advancing the state of the art in automated, digitally integrated inspection.

Requirements

Ability to lawfully access information and technology that is subject to US export controls.
10+ years of NDE, manufacturing, materials, or related engineering experience, preferably in aerospace, defense, or space.
Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, or a related technical field.
Demonstrated experience leading both NDE engineering and production inspection operations.
Active level III certification in at least one of the following RT, CT, UT/PAUT, or PT.
Experience developing and qualifying NDE procedures and deploying them into production.
Experience specifying, procuring, installing, and qualifying NDE capital equipment.
Demonstrated experience building teams and technical capabilities from the ground up.
Strong engineering and operational background, with the ability to connect NDE results to materials, manufacturing processes, design requirements, and production performance.

Nice To Haves

Experience with inspection of additive manufactured hardware, structural adhesive joints, or aerospace weldments.
Current or past level III certification in multiple NDE methods
Strong knowledge of aerospace NDE standards, qualification requirements, and quality systems (AMS, ASTM, MIL, …).

Responsibilities

Build and lead both the NDE engineering team and production inspection organization.
Own the enterprise NDE strategy and technology roadmap across multiple materials, manufacturing processes, and product applications.
Lead development, validation, and qualification of methods including RT, CT, PT, UT/PAUT, and emerging inspection technologies.
Establish standardized inspection workflows, training, certification, calibration, equipment controls, and technical governance.
Develop novel NDE approaches suited to Divergent’s fixtureless, adaptable DAPS manufacturing system, rather than simply replicating legacy inspection practices.
Integrate NDE equipment and inspection data into MES, traceability, automated disposition, and the broader DAPS digital thread.
Serve as Divergent’s senior NDE technical authority and partner closely with Materials, Design, Manufacturing, Production, Factory Development, and Quality.
Support product development, process qualification, root-cause investigations, customer requirements, and acceptance-criteria development.