Materials Test Lab Manager — Build & Lead

hadrian.co; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 126,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

401k

Relocation support

Flexible vacation policy

Equity

Job summary

Hadrian in Los Angeles is seeking an Engineering Manager, Materials Test to build and lead our flagship lab. You’ll select equipment, define data collection, and guide engineers and technicians whose work informs welding, casting, forging, and additive manufacturing.

You’ll own lab safety and quality, set priorities across programs, and design scalable workflows to deploy the lab at new factories. If you enjoy building a first‑of‑its‑kind testing capability from scratch, this is your role.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical, materials, aerospace, or electrical engineering, or 8+ years of equivalent experience.
• 3+ years designing, buying, or installing test or manufacturing equipment
• 1+ years leading people (engineers or technicians)
• Hands-on materials testing experience on metals or composites
• Working knowledge of ASTM test standards, the equipment used to run them, and when each one applies
• Experience writing work instructions and process documentation for a lab or production floor
• Able to set technical direction and defend it with teams you don't manage
• Able to travel to other sites

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day operations of the flagship materials test lab
• Hire, manage, and develop a team of engineers and technicians
• Make the final call on technical direction for materials testing
• Select, buy, and install tensile, impact, hardness, metallography, and chemistry equipment, plus specimen prep machines like saws, waterjets, and EDMs. Design custom test equipment when nothing off the shelf fits.
• Set data collection, labeling, and storage requirements for all materials testing. Work with our software and data teams to build the tools.
• Write test automation, work instructions, process plans, and technician training
• Set priorities across welding, casting, forging, and additive so every team gets on‑time, quality data
• Own lab safety and quality risks through engineering controls
• Work with quality to keep full traceability on every material and test result
• Standardize workflows and tools with the rest of the test team
• Package the lab so we can deploy it to new factories and programs

Skills

Materials testing

People leadership

Data-driven decisions

Lab automation

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelors in mechanical, materials, aerospace, or electrical engineering

8+ years equivalent experience

Tools

Python

MATLAB

LabVIEW

ASTM standards knowledge

Job description

Hadrian in Los Angeles is seeking an Engineering Manager, Materials Test to build and lead our flagship lab. You’ll select equipment, define data collection, and guide engineers and technicians whose work informs welding, casting, forging, and additive manufacturing.

You’ll own lab safety and quality, set priorities across programs, and design scalable workflows to deploy the lab at new factories. If you enjoy building a first‑of‑its‑kind testing capability from scratch, this is your role.