Senior Materials & Process Engineer: Solid Rocket Motors

Slope; Huntsville (AL); On-site; USD 126,000 - 167,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Travel opportunities

Job summary

Anduril Industries in Costa Mesa, CA, leads a role for a Materials & Process Engineer within the Rocket Motor Systems team. You will establish M&P infrastructure, standardize specifications, and drive the documentation from prototype to high-rate production.

The ideal candidate has 5+ years in aerospace materials, strong writing skills, and the ability to work across cross-functional teams while traveling to RMS sites in MS, NC, AL up to 50% of the time.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field.
• 5+ years of materials and process engineering experience in aerospace/defense.
• Proven experience developing material specifications and process specifications for production programs.
• Strong background in high-temperature coatings, adhesives, insulation, and TPS components.
• Experience with material characterization, testing, and documentation.
• Strong technical writing skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to obtain and hold a U.S. Top Secret security clearance.
• Preferred: direct experience with solid rocket motor systems.

Responsibilities

• Develop and standardize material specifications for raw materials and components across RMS systems.
• Create process specifications for manufacturing operations including propellant processing, ablative component manufacturing, insulation/liner bonding and surface preparation, heat treatment, coating application, and final assembly processes.
• Develop standard acceptance test procedures and NDI technique sheets for incoming materials, in-process inspection, and finished hardware (FTIR, Raman, X-ray, CT scan, ultrasonic, radiography).
• Review and standardize existing work instructions into formal, configuration-controlled specifications with clearly defined process windows and acceptance criteria.
• Serve as subject matter expert for polymeric materials selection, processing, and qualification across solid rocket motor systems including propellants, cases, TPS, nozzles, igniters, and energetic components.
• Lead materials characterization programs including mechanical testing, thermal analysis, rheology, cure kinetics, and ablation performance evaluation; develop design allowables per CMH-17, JANNAF.
• Provide materials and process expertise to Design and Manufacturing teams; review drawings and manufacturing plans, support design reviews, and troubleshoot production issues.
• Drive material and process qualifications from development through production readiness; manage supplier technical relationships and qualification activities.
• Lead failure investigations and root cause analyses for material-related anomalies; participate in MRBs, FRBs, ERBs, and PCBs.
• Interface with engineering, manufacturing, quality, and program teams to translate mission requirements into robust material and process solutions.
• Drive cost reduction and cycle time improvement initiatives to enable high-rate production.
• Mentor junior engineers and prepare technical documentation including specifications, test reports, and presentations.

Skills

Technical writing

Project leadership

Root cause analysis

Mentoring

Documentation

Education

Bachelor's degree in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field

Job description

Anduril Industries in Costa Mesa, CA, leads a role for a Materials & Process Engineer within the Rocket Motor Systems team. You will establish M&P infrastructure, standardize specifications, and drive the documentation from prototype to high-rate production.

The ideal candidate has 5+ years in aerospace materials, strong writing skills, and the ability to work across cross-functional teams while traveling to RMS sites in MS, NC, AL up to 50% of the time.