Manufacturing Engineer - Production

Vulcan Elements • Research Triangle Park, NC

5d

About The Position

Vulcan Elements is manufacturing American rare-earth permanent magnets for a secure, resilient future. With a focus on national security and economic resiliency, we serve critical industries such as defense, aerospace, and automotive powering a high-technology future. Vulcan Elements is building a team of ambitious professionals committed to Mission Focus, Technical Excellence and Transparency.
As a Manufacturing Engineer, you will contribute to the full lifecycle of a major manufacturing expansion — from design and equipment specification through installation, commissioning, production startup, and scale‑up to full capacity. You will be responsible for a process step, translating pilot-line processes into full-scale, stable, and repeatable production systems. This is a high impact, high-ownership role.

Requirements

• 3+ years in manufacturing or process engineering, ideally within powder metallurgy, advanced materials, rare-earth magnet manufacturing, automotive, battery, or similar high volume manufacturing environments
• Bachelors Degree in Materials Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related engineering discipline
• High-ownership mentality, you observe, orient, decide and act alongside your team and key stakeholders
• Strong analytical, data-driven problem-solving skills and ability to drive accountability and results under tight timelines
• Proficiency with CAD tools, data analysis software, and process modeling tools.
• Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with powder metal compaction, sintering, machining, or finishing processes.
• Familiarity with automation, robotics, or PLC‑based systems.
• Exposure to PFMEA, control plans, and advanced quality tools.
• Six Sigma Green Belt, Lean certification, or similar

Responsibilities

• Own equipment design/requirements, vendor performance and schedule, commissioning activities, process development, and production qualification for a major production process (alloy production, casting, powder production, pressing, sintering, machining, coating, testing, packaging, etc)
• Develop and optimize manufacturing processes to improve throughput, quality, and equipment reliability.
• Create and maintain process documentation, including SOPs, work instructions, control plans, and process flow diagrams.
• Manage technical schedules, budgets, and deliverables aligned with company milestones and customer commitments
• Provide hands‑on support during production startup, helping stabilize processes and eliminate early bottlenecks.
• Develop and innovate new processes and equipment strategies (collaborating with R&D) to implement in future production lines, pushing Vulcan to achieve best-in-class magnet manufacturing
• Partner with maintenance and operations teams to improve equipment uptime and reduce process variation.
• Ensure compliance with safety, environmental, and quality standards across all process activities.
• Responsibilities and tasks outlined are not exhaustive and may change as determined by the needs of the business

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 11-50 employees