Senior Materials & Process Engineer, Propellant Mix & Cast

Next Matter; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; 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

Castelion is seeking a Senior Materials & Process Engineer in Torrance, California. This role involves being the technical authority for solid rocket motor propellant, focusing on developing propellant formulations and manufacturing processes. Candidates should have at least 5 years of experience with energetic materials, a bachelor's degree in a relevant field, and strong communication skills. The position offers long-term incentives and comprehensive insurance benefits, along with paid time off.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience with energetic materials, preferably in aerospace.
• Experience with propellant characterization techniques.
• Must be authorized to work in the U.S. and comply with ITAR eligibility requirements.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the SME for energetic materials.
• Partner with engineering teams to scale operations.
• Implement quality assurance and qualification testing protocols.
• Develop and maintain material specifications and process controls.
• Support root-cause investigations related to propellant performance.

Skills

Expertise in energetic materials

Communication skills

Problem solving

Education

Bachelors degree in chemistry, chemical engineering, or materials science

Masters degree in relevant field

Tools

Propellant characterization techniques

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, Propellant Mix & Cast

Castelion is seeking an experienced Materials & Process Engineer to serve as the company's technical authority for solid rocket motor propellant. This individual will play a critical role in developing, qualifying, and scaling propellant formulations and manufacturing processes to meet performance, production rate, and safety requirements.

The successful candidate will bring deep expertise in energetic materials, along with hands-on experience in propellant formulation, production-scale process development, and characterization.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the SME for energetic materials at Castelion – provide guidance relating to processing conditions and operations, propellant qualification, and safety standards.
• Partner with Manufacturing Engineering and Propulsion Engineering teams to scale propellant mixing and casting operations from the current development stage through production.
• Implement quality assurance and qualification testing protocols to ensure raw material consistency and performance and reliability requirements are met. Ensure compliance with applicable energetic material standard and handling requirements (ISO, MIL, DOT).
• Develop and maintain material specifications, process controls, and test plans.
• Support root-cause investigations and continuous improvement initiatives related to propellant performance, manufacturability, and safety.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science/engineering, or a related discipline.
• 5+ years of experience working with energetic materials, preferably within the aerospace industry.
• Experience with propellant characterization techniques including mechanical testing, impact, static, burn‑rate, and impulse testing.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Must be authorized to work in the U.S. and comply with ITAR eligibility requirements.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Masters 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 four 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.