Senior Manufacturing Engineer, Nozzles

Castelion Corporation•Torrance, CA

47d

About The Position

We are seeking a Senior Manufacturing Engineer to own nozzle manufacturing for Castelion’s solid rocket motors. This role focuses on developing, qualifying, and scaling production of nozzle assemblies—including throats, exit cones, insulation, structural shells, closures, and motor interfaces—for hypersonic programs including Blackbeard. You will lead process definition for machining, composite or metallic fabrication, structural bonding, insulation application, assembly, inspection, and integration of nozzles onto motor hardware. Partnering with Design, Quality, Tooling & Automation, Production, and Site Operations, you will deliver repeatable, high-reliability nozzle hardware from development builds through high-rate production.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Materials Science, or related field.
6–10+ years of manufacturing engineering experience in aerospace, defense, or high-reliability propulsion or composite/metallic structures.
3+ years of hands-on ownership of nozzle, throat, exit-cone, or similar high-temperature propulsion hardware manufacturing.
Demonstrated success qualifying processes and transitioning nozzle or analogous hardware from development to production.
Strong experience with precision machining, composite or metallic fabrication, insulation application, and structural bonding of propulsion hardware.
Proficiency in CAD (SolidWorks or NX), GD&T, tolerance stack-up, and fixture concepting.
Working knowledge of PFMEA, SPC, root-cause methods (8D, fishbone), and process qualification.
Familiarity with metrology (CMM, laser trackers, or equivalent) and NDE used on bonded or composite structures.
Understanding of thermal-structural hardware requirements, interface control, and contamination-sensitive assembly practices.
Ability to write clear work instructions and support shop-floor execution.
Hands-on, detail-oriented, and effective at enforcing process discipline on the shop floor.
Strong collaboration with Design, Quality, Bonding, Tooling, and Operations teams.
Clear technical communication and documentation skills.
Data-driven problem solver under schedule pressure.
Safety-first mindset when working in facilities that handle energetic materials.

Nice To Haves

Direct manufacturing experience on solid rocket motor nozzles, throats, exit cones, or comparable missile/space propulsion hardware.
Background in fast-paced defense or space production environments.
Experience with carbon-carbon, graphite, composite, or high-temperature metallic nozzle materials in a production setting.
Prior work integrating nozzles to motor cases or closures.
Familiarity with AS9100, ITAR programs, and manufacturing in energetic-materials facilities.
Track record reducing scrap, rework, or cycle time on flight-critical hardware.

Responsibilities

Own manufacturing processes for SRM nozzles and related hardware, including throat and exit-cone fabrication, insulation, structural bonding, machining, assembly, and motor-interface integration.
Develop and qualify manufacturing sequences, fixtures, work instructions, and control plans that meet dimensional, thermal-structural, and reliability requirements.
Execute DFM/DFA, PFMEA, and statistical process control (SPC) to improve first-pass yield, cycle time, and cost.
Define in-process inspection, metrology, and NDE strategies for nozzle geometry, bond-line quality, insulation integrity, and interface features.
Partner with Tooling, Automation & Controls on machining fixtures, assembly jigs, handling equipment, and automated or semi-automated work cells.
Support new product introduction and design changes with producibility input on materials, tolerances, stack-ups, and assembly sequence.
Lead root-cause analysis and corrective actions for dimensional escapes, bond or insulation defects, machining issues, and integration problems.
Author and maintain travelers, cure or process profiles, and quality records compliant with AS9100 and customer requirements.
Collaborate with suppliers on throat materials, composites, insulation, and machined components; drive incoming quality and process capability.
Support equipment qualification and production ramp at the Project Ranger campus in New Mexico.