Senior Additive Manufacturing Engineer

PAVE Space SA.; Villeneuve (VD); On-site; CHF 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

PAVE Space SA. is building LYOBA, a heavy kick stage moving over 4-tonne payloads from LEO to high-energy orbits in under 24 hours. The AM chain—from printer to post-processing and inspection—must be defined, procured, and qualified so flight parts can be produced on schedule.

You will own the metal AM platform selection, qualification, and full supply chain, driving part quality and audit readiness for propulsion hardware in a hands-on, on-site role at our Villeneuve site.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of metal AM engineering, with at least one programme qualifying parts for high-temperature or pressurised flight service.
• Deep hands-on with LPBF (DMLM, SLM, or equivalent), including parameter development from scratch.
• Material expertise relevant to combustion and regenerative cooling environments.
• Experience qualifying AM parts to ECSS, NASA, or equivalent standards.
• Post-processing competence; HIP, heat treatment, support removal, surface finishing, not just printing.
• Comfortable specifying and commissioning the full chain, not operating an inherited one.
• Reads engineering drawings fluently, including GD&T applied to additive.
• English, fluently
• Nice to have: French; rocket engine or turbopump part qualification experience; experience standing up an AM capability in-house at a series-production aerospace company.

Responsibilities

• Selection and procurement of the metal AM platform(s) for propulsion hardware; printer, post-processing equipment, inspection chain.
• Process qualification: parameter development, witness coupon strategy, material characterisation for combustion environments.
• The full build chain: build orientation, support strategy, slicing, machine operation.
• Post-processing: HIP, heat treatment, stock removal machining, surface finish, NDT.
• Material and supply-chain strategy for propulsion AM hardware.
• The qualification dossier that lets a printed part go into a fired engine and stands up to a customer or auditor's review.

Skills

Metal AM engineering

LPBF (DMLM/SLM)

GD&T

ECSS/NASA qualification

Post-processing (HIP, finishing)

Materials for combustion environments

English fluency

Tools

AM equipment selection

NDT inspection knowledge

Heat-treatment facilities

Job description

PAVE Space is building LYOBA, a heavy kick stage moving over 4-tonne payloads from LEO to high-energy orbits in under 24 hours. The engine has parts no one can mill; thrust chambers with internal cooling channels, complex injectors, regen geometry that only exists because additive manufacturing makes it possible. None of those parts fly without the person we hire into this seat.

PAVE Space is bringing additive manufacturing in-house for propulsion. The workshop is being built, and the entire AM chain has to be specified, procured, and qualified: printer, post-processing, and inspection. It must be producing flight parts before the engine campaign hits stride. You'll define and stand up that chain, on a timeline measured in weeks, not quarters.

You will own

Selection and procurement of the metal AM platform(s) for propulsion hardware; printer, post-processing equipment, inspection chain

Process qualification: parameter development, witness coupon strategy, material characterisation for combustion environments

The full build chain: build orientation, support strategy, slicing, machine operation

Post-processing: HIP, heat treatment, stock removal machining, surface finish, NDT

Material and supply-chain strategy for propulsion AM hardware

The qualification dossier that lets a printed part go into a fired engine and stands up to a customer's or auditor's review

What we are looking for

7+ years of metal AM engineering, with at least one programme qualifying parts for high-temperature or pressurised flight service

Deep hands-on with LPBF (DMLM, SLM, or equivalent), including parameter development from scratch

Material expertise relevant to combustion and regenerative cooling environments

Experience qualifying AM parts to ECSS, NASA, or equivalent standards

Post-processing competence; HIP, heat treatment, support removal, surface finishing, not just printing

Comfortable specifying and commissioning the full chain, not operating an inherited one

Reads engineering drawings fluently, including GD&T applied to additive

English, fluently

Nice to have: French; rocket engine or turbopump part qualification experience; experience standing up an AM capability in-house at a series-production aerospace company.

You will fit if

You'd rather develop the parameter set than tune someone else's recipe.

You want to be in front of the printer when the first build comes off, not waiting for a service bureau's report.

You see the chain (printer, HIP, machining, NDT) as one product, and you take it personally when any link is the weak one.

You're comfortable challenging a designer when the geometry doesn't print well, and rewriting the build when the design has to win.

You take pride in printed parts that pass first time on the test stand and earn the right to fly, and you know what the discipline behind that costs.

The job is fully on-site in Villeneuve (VD), with our test site in Chavalon twenty minutes away. The AM function is being built from scratch; you'll be specifying the machines, not inheriting them. You'll report to the Workshop Lead and work closely with the propulsion team on every part. This is hard and early. If you want an established AM capability with a qualified material library on the shelf, this is the wrong seat. If you want to build that library and qualify the machines that print the engine of the most ambitious space programme in Switzerland, it's the right one.