Polymer Manufacturing Engineer, Additive

Hadrian Automation • New Boston, TX

2d

About The Position

Hadrian is building autonomous factories to reindustrialize America. By combining AI, advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we help aerospace and defense companies build rockets, satellites, aircraft, ships, and other mission-critical systems up to 10x faster and at significantly lower cost. Following our $1.37B Series D at a $7.87B valuation, Hadrian is rapidly expanding our manufacturing footprint, launching new capabilities across welding, casting, forging, electronics, additive manufacturing, and more, while scaling our Factory-as-a-Service platform to transform how critical products are built. Backed by leading investors including JPMorgan Chase, Valor Equity Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, 137 Ventures, Lux Capital, T. Rowe Price, and Morgan Stanley, we’re building the future of American manufacturing—and looking for exceptional people to help make it happen. If you’re ready to take on the most challenging and rewarding work of your career while helping create American manufacturing jobs for generations to come, you’re exactly who we’re looking for.

The Role: We're looking for an operations and systems engineering leader who can take polymer additive manufacturing equipment from standalone machines to fully integrated, automated production systems. You will lead polymer AM production operations and own the technical integration of polymer AM machines into our OPUS platform, including machine connectivity, controls interfaces, telemetry, production scheduling, yield, and delivery performance. You will drive automation across the AM cell (powder and material handling, build volume exchange, depowdering and cleaning, downstream workflows, safety interlocks) and partner closely with machine OEMs and automation vendors to unlock deeper capability, serviceability, and reliability. The initial focus will be scaling production capacity for small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) and related defense platforms. The ideal candidate brings deep polymer AM operations experience, strong systems integration and automation fundamentals, and a track record of industrializing complex equipment for repeatable, scalable production.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Controls, Robotics, Manufacturing, or related); Master's degree is a plus.
• 5-7 years of experience in polymer additive manufacturing operations, systems engineering, equipment engineering, automation, or factory-scale integration, with deep familiarity in one or more of the following technologies: Stratasys SAF, HP Multi Jet Fusion (MJF), FDM, SLA, or SLS. Equivalent experience in factory automation, equipment integration, or manufacturing systems engineering with meaningful polymer AM exposure will also be considered.
• 3+ years of people leadership experience (manager or team lead) with a track record of building and developing high-performing teams.
• Hands-on knowledge of polymer powder bed fusion or material extrusion machine architecture and key subsystems including powder or material handling, thermal management, print heads or optics, recoater or deposition systems, build volume management, atmospheres and environmental controls, sensing and monitoring, and post-processing workflow.
• Demonstrated experience working with production-grade polymer materials such as PA11, PA12, or similar engineering thermoplastics, including an understanding of material behavior, refresh ratios, and recyclability in a production environment.
• Demonstrated experience integrating complex equipment into higher-level software systems (MES, SCADA, equipment management, manufacturing data pipelines, or similar), including requirements definition and interface standards.
• Experience managing production operations in a manufacturing environment, including capacity planning, scheduling, yield management, and delivery performance.
• Experience deploying automation in production manufacturing environments, including safety, interlocks, commissioning, and sustaining engineering.
• Strong problem-solving using structured methods (8D, 5 Whys, fishbone) and proven ability to drive corrective and preventive actions to closure.
• Willing to travel up to 20%, including international supplier visits; U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident (required for ITAR compliance).

Nice To Haves

• Has stood up or scaled polymer AM production from low-rate to high-volume operations.
• Has hands-on experience optimizing powder bed fusion or material extrusion systems for throughput and yield in a production setting.
• Has industry relationships at polymer AM machine OEMs (HP, Stratasys, EOS, or similar).
• Experience with sUAS or unmanned systems component manufacturing is a strong plus.

Responsibilities

• Own polymer AM production operations including scheduling, throughput, yield, utilization, and on-time delivery. Establish and maintain operational cadence, production metrics, and continuous improvement disciplines across the AM cell.
• Lead the end-to-end integration of polymer AM machines, peripherals, and cell infrastructure into OPUS, including connectivity, machine state models, telemetry, data quality, traceability, and enforceable interlocks.
• Define system requirements, interface control documents (ICDs), integration kits, and machine acceptance criteria that scale across multiple OEMs, process technologies, configurations, and sites.
• Lead automation strategy for AM cells including powder and material handling, build volume exchange, part removal, depowdering and cleaning, material flow, and operator ergonomics. Drive step-change improvements in utilization, throughput, and safety.
• Serve as Hadrian's technical lead with machine OEMs (Stratasys, HP, and others), automation integrators, and key suppliers to unlock deeper integration (APIs, controller access, logging, remote operations, calibration hooks, serviceability). Translate needs into joint development roadmaps and deliverables.
• Build and own factory acceptance test (FAT) and site acceptance test (SAT) protocols, commissioning checklists, and validation plans. Partner with Quality and Process teams to ensure integrated systems support qualification and production release.
• Establish reliability engineering discipline for AM equipment (PM strategy, spares, calibration, MTBF and MTTR tracking, failure mode mitigation). Lead structured root cause and corrective action with OEMs and internal teams.
• Lead efforts to implement hardware, firmware, and configuration improvements that increase build volume utilization, process stability, and throughput (for example thermal management, recoater and deposition systems, calibration, and print parameter optimization), while maintaining configuration control.
• Own standard work for machine operation and integration points, including equipment control procedures, safety interlocks, change control, and training. Ensure readiness for regulated environments and customer audits.
• Hire, coach, and develop a high-performing team across machine operations, engineering, controls, automation, and integration. Set execution cadence, prioritize the portfolio, and build reusable frameworks and knowledge bases.
• Partner tightly with Applications Engineering, Materials and Process, Manufacturing Engineering, Factory Automation, Software, Quality, Supply Chain, and Operations to industrialize solutions and deliver production commitments.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees
• 401k
• Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need.
• Flexible vacation policy
• Equity

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior