Non-Destructive Inspection Lead

Swarm Aero; Fayetteville (AR); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Meaningful equity in a high-growth DEF

Competitive base salary commensurate w

Medical, dental, vision, and 401k

PTO and paid sick leave

Monthly wellness stipend

Daily catered lunch (office)

Paid parental leave

Direct impact on national security

World-class team of engineers and ops

Job summary

Swarm Aero is hiring an NDI Engineer in Fayetteville, AR to build the first scalable inspection system for composite and metallic structures. You will define methods, specify equipment, and write procedures for new aircraft components, partnering with design and stress teams.

You will develop inspection plans, establish acceptance criteria, and create essential quality docs to support high-rate production and first articles transitioning to production.

Qualifications

• NDI experience in aerospace, composites, metallics, or similar complex hardware.
• Hands-on experience establishing new NDI procedures for a program or line.
• Working knowledge of materials and how inspection methods vary with them.
• Depth in ultrasonic, radiography, CT, thermography, eddy current, penetrant, or magnetic particle.
• Familiarity with NAS 410, ASNT SNT-TC-1A or equivalent.
• Ability to implement structure without slowing the team.

Responsibilities

• Define and stand up our NDI capability: methods, equipment, inspection procedures.
• Develop inspection plans, acceptance criteria, and references with design/stress teams.
• Create quality documentation and control requirements for scaling production.
• Collaborate with aircraft designers to improve inspectability and catch issues early.
• Apply SPC to inspection and manufacturing data to detect drift early.
• Disposition defects, support MRB, and feed learnings back to design and process.
• Identify bottlenecks, test floor improvements, and improve throughput and predictability.
• Lay groundwork for an NDI team: training, qualification, and certification programs.

Skills

NDI experience

Develop NDI procedures

SPC analysis

Root cause investigations

Data-driven decisions

Tools

Ultrasonic (phased array)

Radiography

CT

Thermography

Eddy current

Penetrant testing

Magnetic particle

Job description

Swarm Aero is redefining air power, building the largest swarming UAV and the most versatile swarming aircraft network in the world. The company is moving quickly to launch the first aircraft designed specifically for swarming, as well as the Command & Control software to mobilize swarms of thousands of heterogeneous autonomous assets and empower human operators to achieve superhuman results.

The team has created and exited multiple startups, negotiated defense deals worth billions of dollars, and designed and built 30+ novel aircraft, with aerospace experience from Scaled Composites, Airbus, Archer Aviation, Blue Origin, and Boom Supersonic.

We’re building a new kind of aircraft, and we’re building the factories to produce it. We’re hiring a Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) Engineer to help turn early builds into a repeatable, high-rate manufacturing operation where quality is designed in from the start.

This is a chance to shape the floor while the decisions still matter. You’ll work across design, manufacturing, materials and processes, and operations to define how we inspect composite and metallic structures across the company. There is no legacy inspection system to inherit here. You’ll be building it.

What you’ll do

• Define and stand up our NDI capability: select methods, specify equipment, and write the inspection procedures for composite and metallic components

• Develop inspection plans, accept/reject criteria, and reference standards in partnership with design and stress engineering

• Create quality documentation and control requirements that hold up as we scale from first articles to rate production

• Work directly with the people designing and building the aircraft to influence designs for inspectability and catch problems before they become permanent features of the build

• Apply Statistical Process Control (SPC) to inspection and manufacturing data so we can see process drift early and act on it

• Disposition defects, support material review and root cause investigations, and feed what you learn back into design and process

• Identify bottlenecks early, test improvements on the floor, and use production data to improve throughput, quality, and predictability

• Lay the groundwork for an NDI team: training, qualification, and certification programs for the inspectors and engineers who follow

What you bring

• NDI experience in aerospace, composites, metallics, or another complex hardware manufacturing environment

• Hands-on experience establishing new NDI procedures for a program, company, or production line

• Working knowledge of composite and metallic materials and processes, and how they affect the capability and limitations of different inspection methods

• Depth in one or more methods such as ultrasonic (including phased array), radiography or CT, thermography, eddy current, penetrant, or magnetic particle

• Familiarity with NDI qualification and certification standards (NAS 410, ASNT SNT-TC-1A, or equivalent)

• The judgment to put structure in place where it helps, without slowing down the team doing the work

Nice to have

• NAS 410 Level III certification, or a clear path to it

• Experience building or leading an NDI team or written practice from scratch

• Background in automated inspection or high-rate composite production

• Experience with aerospace quality systems such as AS9100

Requirements

• Must be a U.S. person due to ITAR requirements

• Able to work on-site in Fayetteville, AR

You’ll have unusual ownership here. The choices you make will shape how we build our first aircraft and the hundreds that follow.

ITAR requirement

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Swarm Aero is an equal opportunity employer. We value diverse backgrounds and experiences and make employment decisions without regard to race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or disability.

What We Offer

• Meaningful equity in a high-growth defense technology company

• Competitive base salary commensurate with experience

• Medical, dental, vision, and 401k

• PTO and paid sick leave

• Monthly wellness stipend

• Daily catered lunch (office)

• Paid parental leave

• Direct impact on a critical national security mission

• A world-class team of engineers and operators solving genuinely hard problems