Senior Materials & Process Engineer, Non-Metals

Next Matter; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Long-term stock incentives

Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance

Four weeks of paid time off

Job summary

A defense development company based in California is seeking a Senior Materials & Process Engineer to oversee non-metallic materials for their advanced weapon systems. The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor's degree in a relevant field, at least 5 years of experience in materials engineering, and proficiency with characterization techniques. This role involves ensuring material quality, developing specifications, and supporting production processes. Competitive benefits including medical insurance and stock incentives are offered.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience working with non-metal materials, preferably within the aerospace or automotive industries.
• Experience with mechanical testing and thermal aging/cycling testing.
• Authorized to work in the U.S. and comply with ITAR eligibility requirements.

Responsibilities

• Provide guidance on material selection and qualification strategies.
• Implement quality assurance protocols for raw material consistency.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives related to non-metallic materials.

Skills

Process control

Quality assurance

Material characterization techniques

Excellent written and verbal communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in materials science/engineering, polymer science, chemistry, or related discipline

Tools

FTIR/Raman

SEM/EDS

DSC

TGA

Job description

About Castelion

Castelion is bringing a new approach to defense development and production: one that focuses on short, iterative design cycles, rapid testing in development, and modern commercial manufacturing strategies for production at scale. We're designing, building, and testing next generation long range strike weapons systems to give America and its Allies a definitive edge and deter future conflicts.

Senior Materials & Process Engineer, Non-Metals

Castelion is seeking an experienced Materials & Processes Engineer to serve as the company's technical authority for non-metallic materials. This individual will play a critical role in material and process selection, control, and qualification testing across all adhesive, sealant, elastomer, coating, and other applicable non-metallic material systems.

The successful candidate will demonstrate a strong understanding of process control and quality assurance frameworks, with experience supporting these material systems in a high-volume production environment.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the SME for all non-metallics at Castelion – provide guidance relating to material selection, processing conditions, qualification strategies, and production-quality requirements to support reliable, scalable manufacturing.
• Implement quality assurance and qualification testing protocols to ensure raw material consistency and performance and reliability requirements are met.
• Develop and maintain material specifications, process controls, and test plans.
• Support root‑cause investigations and continuous improvement initiatives related to non‑metallic material performance, reliability, and safety.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in materials science/engineering, polymer science, chemistry, or related discipline.
• 5+ years of experience working with non‑metal materials, preferably within the aerospace or automotive industries.
• Experience with material characterization techniques including mechanical testing, FTIR/Raman, SEM/EDS, OM, DSC, TGA, DMA, CTE, Humidity/Salt fog exposure, UV exposure, and thermal aging/cycling testing.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Mustbe authorized towork in the U.S. andcomply withITAR eligibility requirements.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Master's degree in chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science/engineering, or a related discipline.

Additional Requirements

• Must be willing to work extended hours and/or weekends as needed.
• Must be able to travel up to 20%.
• All employees are granted long‑term stock incentives as part of their employment at Castelion. All employees receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance, and the company offers three weeks of paid time off per year.

Leadership Qualities

Bias to Action and Creative Problem Solving. Desire and experience questioning assumptions in ways that lead to breakthrough ideas that are ultimately implemented. Successfully bring in applicable processes/concepts/materials from other industries to achieve efficiency gains. Ability to personally resolve minor issues in development without requiring significant support.

High Commitment, High Initiative. A successful candidate will have a genuine passion for Castelion's mission and consistently look for ways to contribute to the company's technical goals and prevent hardware blockers. Ability to work in a fast paced, autonomously driven, and demanding atmosphere. Strong sense of accountability and integrity.

Clear Communicator. Proactively communicates blockers. Trusted in previous roles to be voice of company with regulators, suppliers, gate keepers and customers. Capable of tactfully managing relationships with stakeholders to achieve company‑desired outcomes without compromising relationships. Emails, IMs and verbal interactions are logical, drive clarity, and detailed enough to eliminate ambiguity.

ITAR Requirements

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Employment with Castelion is governed on the basis of competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

All employees are granted long‑term stock incentives as part of their employment at Castelion. All employees receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance, and the company offers four weeks of paid time off per year.