Senior Materials and Process Engineer

Varda Space Industries•El Segundo, CA

1d•$140,333 - $202,703•Onsite

About The Position

As a Senior Materials and Process Engineer at Varda, you will define and qualify the materials and special processes used in reentry vehicles as the company scales from bespoke builds to consistent, concurrent production. The role owns the development, qualification, and control of flight-hardware processes across ablative and thermal protection systems (TPS), coatings, polymers, composites, adhesives, wet chemical processing, corrosion control, and metallic structures. You will author specifications, process qualification records, and control plans; lead root-cause and failure investigations for material and process non-conformances; and use statistical methods to establish process windows and acceptance criteria. The position requires making sound decisions without established infrastructure, influencing material decisions across teams, and mentoring and helping hire engineers. You will work with design engineers, technicians, and suppliers to improve the quality and repeatability of every vehicle Varda produces and increase build cadence. This is an on-site role in El Segundo, California. The posted salary range is $140,333–$202,703 per year. The role is eligible for incentives in the form of stock options and/or long-term cash awards. Employees must be U.S. persons authorized to access export-controlled items. The position requires regularly lifting 25 pounds and bending, stooping, and standing for extended periods while working directly with flight hardware.

Requirements

B.S. in Materials Science, Metallurgical, Chemical, Mechanical, or a related engineering discipline, or demonstrated equivalent experience and expertise.
At least 3 years of process and materials engineering experience in aerospace, semiconductor, or another high-reliability industry.
Demonstrated experience developing and qualifying processes and materials for flight or safety-critical hardware, including first-article builds and compliance with industry standards such as AWS, AMS, or ASTM.
Experience authoring and releasing specifications, design guidance, acceptance criteria, and drawing callouts used by an organization and its suppliers.
Experience with thermal, chemical, mechanical, and NDE characterization, including interpreting results to define process windows.
Deep expertise in at least one of the following: ablatives and TPS; composites; polymers and adhesives; coatings and surface treatment; wet chemical processing and corrosion control; welding metallurgy; heat treat; additive; or NDE.
Experience with aerospace metals, including stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, and nickel alloys, and their processing, including heat treatment, welding, brazing, and finishing.
Experience with corrosion mechanisms, including galvanic, crevice, pitting, stress corrosion, and hydrogen embrittlement, and with chemical compatibility of materials with process fluids and service environments.
Experience developing and controlling wet chemical processes, including bath chemistry, rinse and water-quality requirements, precision cleaning, cleanliness verification, and work with hazardous, reactive, or oxidizing fluids.
Proficiency in applied statistical methods, including DOE, SPC, process capability, measurement system analysis, regression, and statistical tolerancing; ability to establish statistically based material allowables, acceptance criteria, and sampling plans such as A-basis and B-basis.
Experience leading RCCAs, failure analysis, and material dispositions, including selecting and interpreting laboratory methods such as fractography, metallography, SEM/EDS, and chemical analysis, and leading cross-functional investigations.
Experience developing control plans and special processes and leading PFMEAs.
Experience setting materials and processes requirements for the space environment, including outgassing and contamination control, electrical bonding and grounding, thermal cycling, and UV exposure.
Strong technical writing skills, including writing specifications, test reports, and investment cases.
Ability to make sound decisions quickly without established infrastructure, influence material decisions owned by other teams, and hire and mentor engineers.
Must be physically able to regularly lift 25 pounds, bend, stoop, and stand for extended periods while working directly with flight hardware.
Must be a U.S. person permitted to access the company's export-controlled technology without an export license.

Nice To Haves

M.S. or Ph.D. in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related discipline, or AMPP/NACE certification.
Experience with ablative, thermal protection, and thermal barrier materials for reentry, hypersonic, or propulsion applications, including arc-jet, thermal-conductivity, recession, and char-behavior characterization.
Experience with polymer and composite processing at scale, including cure-cycle development, cure kinetics, and void and porosity control.
Experience with spacecraft thermal-control and finishing systems, including MLI films, metallizations, anodize per MIL-A-8625, conversion coating per MIL-DTL-5541, plating, and fluoropolymer coatings, and their effects on bonding and outgassing.
Experience designing, qualifying, or specifying wet-process lines and high-purity water systems, including waste handling and EHS compliance.
Experience with high-test peroxide (HTP) systems, including compatibility classes, passivation and conditioning, stabilizer and contaminant effects, catalyst-bed materials, active-oxygen-loss testing, decomposition modeling, and diagnosing elevated decomposition or corrosion.
Experience with strong oxidizers and hypergols such as LOX, N2O, N2O4/MON, and hydrazines, including oxygen-service cleaning standards and oxidizer-compatible polymers, elastomers, and lubricants.
Experience with pharmaceutical or bioprocess materials, including product-contact selection, ASME BPE, extractables and leachables, USP Class VI / ISO 10993, cleaning validation, and potent-compound containment.
Experience developing accelerated corrosion test programs and correlating results to service environments.
Experience with advanced statistical methods such as Bayesian, mixed-effects, Weibull, and Monte Carlo methods, and advanced characterization such as XRD, CT, and XPS.
Experience scaling processes to production build rates and qualifying and auditing special-process suppliers, such as NADCAP suppliers.
Experience building a process and materials function, including an approved materials and processes list, a materials usage agreement process, and an in-house materials lab.
Recognized subject-matter expertise and a record of setting technical direction and standards beyond a single program, such as cross-discipline chief-engineer or standards roles, publications, patents, or standards-committee participation.

Responsibilities

Develop, qualify, and maintain special processes for flight hardware, including ablative and thermal protection systems, coatings, polymers, composites, adhesives, and processes for metallic structures.
Develop and control wet chemical processes, including cleaning, etching, passivation, and conversion coating.
Implement corrosion prevention and control practices and assess chemical compatibility among materials, process fluids, and service environments.
Design experiments, methodologies, and pathfinder hardware to de-risk processes; characterize materials and processes through mechanical, thermal, chemical, and microstructural testing; and use statistical methods to define process windows.
Define tooling, fixture, test-equipment, cleanliness, contamination-control, and material-handling requirements for assigned processes and flight hardware.
Develop and maintain Special Process Specifications, Process Qualification and Validation Records, and Control Plans.
Lead and contribute to root-cause corrective actions (RCCAs), material review boards (MRB), and failure review boards for material and process non-conformances, including failure analysis performed in-house or through partner labs.
Make timely technical decisions without established infrastructure and influence material decisions across teams.
Mentor and help hire engineers.
Improve the quality and repeatability of vehicles and support increased production build cadence.