R&D Group Lead Scientist

Foundation Alloy; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Unlimited vacation

Flexible work

Health insurance

Salary increases with inflation

Professional growth

Job summary

Foundation Alloy is a Boston-area company seeking a R&D Group Lead Scientist to lead a multidisciplinary team in inventing new alloys and optimizing their manufacturing processes. This is a hands-on, high-impact role combining metallurgy with leadership to advance next‑generation materials.

The successful candidate will mentor early‑career metallurgists, work with the product team to translate alloy designs into saleable products, and drive process improvements across the development lifecycle.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in Materials Science, Metallurgy, or related field with 5+ years of industry experience.
• Proven leadership and project management in product/process development.
• Hands-on experience with metallurgical computational design tools and characterization methods.

Responsibilities

• Lead invention and engineering of next-generation alloys using computational materials science and experimental metallurgy.
• Improve and optimize metal powder manufacturing processes for novel alloys.
• Develop process parameters to achieve target microstructure and properties.
• Characterize new materials using advanced techniques and analyze data.
• Build and mentor a high-performing R&D team and represent the company at conferences and customer meetings.

Skills

Metallurgy leadership

Team leadership

Material science expertise

Computational design

Analytical skills

Communication

Education

MS or PhD in Materials Science/Metallurgy or related engineering

Tools

Characterization tools

Computational design tools

Process modeling software

Job description

Foundation Alloy is building the most advanced metal alloy company in the world. Our mission is to unlock performance that legacy materials and processes simply cannot deliver, enabling the next generation of critical hardware across space, aerospace, defense, energy, and industrial applications.

Our proprietary MetalsFIRST™ platform eliminates melting entirely, using mechanical alloying and rapid sintering to produce alloys with ultra-fine grain structures and exceptional properties. We are already deploying initial materials, including our Molyclast™ alloys (MC700, MC1200, and MC-X) and specialty steels.

We are a Boston‑area company commercializing deep materials science developed at the intersection of advanced manufacturing and frontier materials science. We move fast, operate with high technical rigor, and are scaling the infrastructure to bring these materials into production. Currently in the process of relocating from Cambridge, MA to Woburn, MA by early next year.

What you'll be working on:

Foundation Alloy is seeking a R&D Group Lead Scientist to join our team. As the R&D Group Lead, you will lead a multidisciplinary team to invent new alloys and optimize their manufacturing processes. This is a "player-coach" role: you will be responsible for laboratory execution and the mentorship of early career engineering talent while also being hands on with the metallurgy and materials science of high performance alloys.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the invention and engineering of next-generation alloys using a combination of computational materials science and process-structure-property experimental metallurgy. Work closely with our product team to turn alloy design opportunities into saleable products.
• Work hands-on to innovate through the entire alloy development process:
• Improving and optimizing metal powder manufacturing processes to produce novel alloys.
• Developing process parameters to achieve target microstructure and properties.
• Characterize new materials using advanced characterization techniques.
• Analyze experimental data and be able to:
• Describe results and metallurgical mechanisms across the organization.
• Turn inventions and discoveries into actionable process improvements or saleable new products.
• Build and manage a high-performing R&D team. You will be responsible for training and mentoring early career metallurgists, fostering a culture of technical excellence and rapid iteration.
• Represent Foundation Alloy at conferences and trade shows and in customer meetings.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in Materials Science, Metallurgy, or a related engineering field with 5+ years of relevant industry experience.
• Passion for imagining what's possible and the energy, drive, leadership, and creativity to make it happen in a fast-paced, evolving start-up environment.
• Proven experience in metallurgical processing and alloy design.
• Demonstrated ability to lead a major product or process development project and to collaborate throughout the organization to achieve success.
• Hands‑on experience with metallurgical computational design tools, characterization techniques, and analytical methods.
• A proven communicator across levels of the organization.
• Direct management experience or mentorship is a plus.

Culture

We don't look for profiles that fit with our culture. We look for people that add to who we are - people with the initiative, positive approach to problem solving, and passion for something (anything!) that will make them both high impact and exciting to work alongside from day one. We know that these people come from all walks of life, with all backgrounds and levels of experience. We enthusiastically welcome team members of all races, colors, religions, ages, sexes, sexual orientations, gender identities, national origins, different abilities, genetics, veteran statuses, and former incarceration statuses.

Compensation and Benefits

The success of this company will be grounded in the long‑term productivity of our team. To provide everyone with the physical, mental and financial safety to operate at their long‑term best, we provide the following:

• Meaningful, challenging, impactful work, and opportunities to grow within the company at all levels
• Competitive salary, guaranteed to rise with inflation at a minimum each year
• Equity - People at every level will have an impact, and should benefit from their work
• Unlimited paid vacation, with a very strong expectation that employees take a minimum of 15 days off per year, and a full week off at least once per year
• Flexible working style. Most jobs will require people to be present in person or in office most of the time, but in general we care about what’s getting done, not when or where you’re doing it
• Top tier health, dental and vision insurance with limited employee contributions
• A voice in future benefits. This is the beginning, and we will work together to keep adding new, better ways to provide for everyone in the company