Senior Engineer, Materials

Beehive Industries; Knoxville (TN); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

401(k) plan

Equity

Job summary

Beehive Industries is seeking a Senior Materials Engineer to advance aerospace materials, heat treatment, and powder metallurgy for defense applications. You will guide material strategies, qualify production-ready specs, and improve microstructure to enable reliable additive manufacturing.

The role demands leadership in material testing, DOE, and cross-functional collaboration, with a focus on ensuring high performance and process scalability for defense programs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a materials or engineering field or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years in materials engineering, heat treatment, and production-ready materials.
• Experience with aerospace/defense quality and material specs.
• Mentor engineers and lead cross-functional material tasks.

Responsibilities

• Serve as technical authority for aerospace-grade metals and powder characterization.
• Define material roadmaps, characterization protocols, and process development.
• Establish material specs, heat treatment standards, and QC controls.
• Lead powder metallurgy, microstructural evaluation, and defect reduction.
• Develop production-ready material processing specs including HIP and surface finishing.
• Optimize mechanical properties and fatigue performance for AM parts.
• Integrate materials practices into manufacturing workflows and QA systems.
• Guide cross-functional teams and mentor junior engineers.
• Support decisions on testing labs, suppliers, and future materials tech.

Skills

Powder metallurgy

Heat treatment

Metallurgy

Material characterization

DOE

Statistical process control

Failure analysis

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science & Engineering, Metallurgy, Mechanical Engineering, or related field

Tools

SEM

EDS

EBSD

CT scanning

Hardness testing

Job description

Beehive Industries is dedicated to Powering American Defense by revolutionizing the design, development, and delivery of jet propulsion systems to support the warfighter. Through the integration of additive manufacturing, the company aims to meet the growing and urgent needs for unmanned aerial defense by dramatically improving a jet engine’s speed to market, fuel efficiency, and cost. Founded in 2020, the company is headquartered in Centennial, Colorado, with additional facilities in Knoxville, Tennessee, Loveland Ohio, and Mount Vernon, Ohio. Beehive is committed to grow and advance the defense industrial base while manufacturing exclusively in the USA. This role will be located at our Knoxville, Tennessee facility.

Role Overview

The Senior Materials Engineer serves as a technical authority responsible for advancing materials, heat treatment, powder metallurgy, and material characterization capabilities for critical aerospace and defense applications. The Senior Materials Engineer provides expert individual contribution and project guidance in additive manufacturing metallurgy, material property optimization, and production integration while supporting strategic engineering initiatives. The Senior Materials Engineer drives solutions to complex technical challenges in material selection, post-processing, microstructural evaluation, and defect reduction to enable reliable, high-performance additive manufacturing operations.

What You’ll Do...

• Serve as a technical authority for aerospace-grade metals, powder characterization, heat treatment development, and material qualification across additive manufacturing workflows.
• Define technical strategies, material roadmaps, and material characterization protocols to support process development and production scalability.
• Establish and improve material specifications, heat treatment standards, powder control limits, and technical documentation.
• Drive resolution of complex challenges related to powder metallurgy, solidification behavior, microstructural evolution, thermal history, defect mechanisms, and mechanical performance.
• Lead development and qualification of production-ready material processing specifications, including hot isostatic pressing (HIP), heat treatment, and surface finishing.
• Apply advanced expertise in metallurgy and materials science to optimize mechanical properties, static/fatigue performance, microstructural integrity, and defect reduction.
• Influence integration of materials engineering practices into broader manufacturing workflows, including post-processing, machining, NDT/inspection, and quality management systems.
• Guide cross-functional engineering teams in solving complex metallurgical problems and evaluating new material technologies.
• Mentor junior engineers and materials specialists, fostering technical growth across materials and additive manufacturing initiatives.
• Support strategic decisions regarding testing laboratory capabilities, material suppliers, powder reuse strategies, and future materials technology.
• Represent materials engineering expertise in technical reviews with leadership, customers, suppliers, and government/industry partners.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

You have...

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science & Engineering, Metallurgy, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical field; or equivalent combination of education and experience

Experience

• Minimum of 5 years of related experience with a; or 3 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD without experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Demonstrated experience developing, characterizing, and qualifying high-performance metallic materials and heat treatments for production applications.
• Experience leading complex materials engineering tasks, failure analyses, and material selection efforts on engineering programs.
• Experience supporting aerospace, defense, or other highly regulated industries governed by strict quality and material specifications.
• Skills & Competencies
• Advanced knowledge of powder metallurgy, physical/extractive metallurgy, phase transformations, microstructure-property relationships, and heat treatment of aerospace alloys (e.g., Nickel, Titanium, Aluminum, Steel, or refractory alloys).
• Deep understanding of material testing standards (ASTM, SAE/AMS, ISO) and metallurgical analysis techniques (SEM, EDS, EBSD, metallography, CT scanning, hardness, tensile, fatigue, creep).
• Experience developing material specifications, powder handling/qualification controls, and heat treatment parameters for additively manufactured parts.
• Strong background in experimental design (DOE), statistical process control, and failure analysis methods (root cause analysis).
• Ability to establish technical direction, solve multi-faceted engineering challenges, and drive cross-functional decision-making.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to articulate complex material performance trade-offs to executive leadership and technical partners.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and elevate organizational technical standards.
• The ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government-issued security clearance is required. U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance.

Nice to have...

• Master’s degree or PhD in Engineering, Metallurgy, Materials Engineering, or related field
• Experience qualifying additive manufacturing materials specifically for propulsion systems, turbomachinery, or high-temperature defense applications.
• Practical familiarity with additive processes such as Metal Binder Jetting (MBJ), Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF), Direct Energy Deposition (DED), or Electron Beam Melting (EBM).
• Familiarity with post-processing operations, including Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP), chemical/mechanical surface treatments, investment casting, and machining.
• Experience managing external metallurgical testing vendors, powder suppliers, or Nadcap-accredited testing facilities.
• Contribution to patents, peer-reviewed publications, technical conference presentations, or industry consensus standards (e.g., ASTM F42, SAE AMS-AM).

Beehive Industries offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes group Medical, Dental, Life, and Short and Long-Term disability coverage from day one. We also offer a generous 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan with a Company match. Every role at Beehive Industries is bonus eligible and will also receive equity in the company.Beehive Industries is committed to full compliance with applicable anti-discrimination laws. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We strive to create an inclusive work environment and will not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.