Senior Engineer, Materials

Beehive Industries•Knoxville, TN

20h

About The Position

The Senior Materials Engineer serves as a technical authority advancing materials, heat treatment, powder metallurgy, and material characterization capabilities for critical aerospace and defense applications. The role provides expert individual contribution and project guidance in additive manufacturing metallurgy, material property optimization, and production integration while supporting strategic engineering initiatives. It addresses complex technical challenges involving material selection, post-processing, microstructural evaluation, and defect reduction to enable reliable, high-performance additive manufacturing operations.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science & Engineering, Metallurgy, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Minimum of 5 years of related experience; alternatively, 3 years and a master’s degree, a PhD without experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Demonstrated experience developing, characterizing, and qualifying high-performance metallic materials and heat treatments for production applications.
Experience leading complex materials engineering tasks, failure analyses, and material selection efforts on engineering programs.
Experience supporting aerospace, defense, or other highly regulated industries governed by strict quality and material specifications.
Advanced knowledge of powder metallurgy, physical/extractive metallurgy, phase transformations, microstructure-property relationships, and heat treatment of aerospace alloys such as nickel, titanium, aluminum, steel, or refractory alloys.
Deep understanding of ASTM, SAE/AMS, and ISO material testing standards and metallurgical analysis techniques, including SEM, EDS, EBSD, metallography, CT scanning, hardness, tensile, fatigue, and creep testing.
Experience developing material specifications, powder handling and qualification controls, and heat treatment parameters for additively manufactured parts.
Strong background in experimental design (DOE), statistical process control, and failure analysis methods, including root cause analysis.
Ability to establish technical direction, solve multifaceted engineering challenges, and drive cross-functional decision-making.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex material performance trade-offs to executive leadership and technical partners.
Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and elevate organizational technical standards.
Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government-issued security clearance; U.S. citizenship is required because only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or PhD in Engineering, Metallurgy, Materials Engineering, or a related field.
Experience qualifying additive manufacturing materials for propulsion systems, turbomachinery, or high-temperature defense applications.
Practical familiarity with additive processes such as Metal Binder Jetting (MBJ), Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF), Direct Energy Deposition (DED), or Electron Beam Melting (EBM).
Familiarity with post-processing operations, including Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP), chemical or mechanical surface treatments, investment casting, and machining.
Experience managing external metallurgical testing vendors, powder suppliers, or Nadcap-accredited testing facilities.
Contributions to patents, peer-reviewed publications, technical conference presentations, or industry consensus standards such as ASTM F42 or SAE AMS-AM.

Responsibilities

Serve as a technical authority for aerospace-grade metals, powder characterization, heat treatment development, and material qualification across additive manufacturing workflows.
Define technical strategies, material roadmaps, and material characterization protocols to support process development and production scalability.
Establish and improve material specifications, heat treatment standards, powder control limits, and technical documentation.
Resolve complex challenges related to powder metallurgy, solidification behavior, microstructural evolution, thermal history, defect mechanisms, and mechanical performance.
Lead development and qualification of production-ready material processing specifications, including hot isostatic pressing (HIP), heat treatment, and surface finishing.
Optimize mechanical properties, static and fatigue performance, microstructural integrity, and defect reduction through advanced metallurgy and materials science expertise.
Integrate materials engineering practices into broader manufacturing workflows, including post-processing, machining, NDT/inspection, and quality management systems.
Guide cross-functional engineering teams in solving complex metallurgical problems and evaluating new material technologies.
Mentor junior engineers and materials specialists, fostering technical growth across materials and additive manufacturing initiatives.
Support strategic decisions regarding testing laboratory capabilities, material suppliers, powder reuse strategies, and future materials technology.
Represent materials engineering expertise in technical reviews with leadership, customers, suppliers, and government and industry partners.
Perform other duties as assigned.