Senior Composites Engineer — Space Deployables (Equity)

Nguyening Strategies Group; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Job summary

Nguyening Strategies Group in Hawthorne, CA seeks a Senior Composites Engineer to own the engineering, production, and development of ultra-light deployable composite structures destined for space applications.

You will refine laminate schedules, develop layup processes, design tooling and fixtures, run experiments, and bridge CAD to flight hardware, while improving yield, repeatability, and performance across curing, layup, machining, bonding, and inspection.

Qualifications

• 4–6 years of composites engineering experience spanning design, processing, and manufacturing.
• Strong background in composite materials engineering, aerospace structures, or manufacturing engineering.
• Experience designing and producing thin high-precision composite laminates.
• Hands-on experience with composite processing: layup, cure, debulk, trimming, bonding, inspection.
• Experience developing tooling, mold design, or fixture design for composite components.
• Familiarity with structural analysis of composite parts (FEA, laminate theory, material allowables).
• Experience with spacecraft or deployable structures is a bonus.

Responsibilities

• Own the engineering and process development for all in-house composite structures.
• Develop, validate, and optimize laminate schedules, cure cycles, and layup techniques.
• Design tooling, molds, fixtures, and inspection methods for thin high-precision composite parts.
• Run experiments to characterize materials and processes (fiber alignment, void fraction, cure kinetics).
• Implement manufacturing controls: travelers, process specs, inspection criteria, and QA workflows.
• Diagnose and resolve unusual composite manufacturing and structural issues.
• Collaborate with technicians to ensure manufacturability and performance alignment.
• Support fabrication on the floor — hands-on when needed — to bridge engineering and manufacturing.
• Drive continual improvement in surface quality, dimensional tolerance, repeatability, and yield.
• Support development and maintenance of capital equipment (ovens, autoclave alternatives, CNC routing).

Skills

Composites engineering

Aerospace structures

Manufacturing engineering

Hands-on processing

Education

BS in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Electrical, Aerospace, or Industrial Engineering

Tools

FEA

CNC routing

Job description

Nguyening Strategies Group in Hawthorne, CA seeks a Senior Composites Engineer to own the engineering, production, and development of ultra-light deployable composite structures destined for space applications.

You will refine laminate schedules, develop layup processes, design tooling and fixtures, run experiments, and bridge CAD to flight hardware, while improving yield, repeatability, and performance across curing, layup, machining, bonding, and inspection.