Senior SRM Quality Engineer - Energetics

ursamajor; Berthoud (CO); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Ursa Major in Colorado is seeking a Senior SRM Quality Engineer - Energetics to own product and process quality for solid rocket motor propellant manufacturing, including AP milling, propellant mixing, casting, and cure.

This is a hands-on, high-ownership role embedded with our Manufacturing, Engineering, and Development teams, with a primary mission of ensuring process control and product integrity from raw energetic materials through a cured, inspected motor.

Responsibilities

• Own propellant manufacturing quality for AP milling, mixing, casting, and cure.
• Validate that propellant and ingredient acceptance criteria, specifications, and lot release requirements are met.
• Apply SPC and data-driven methods to monitor batch-to-batch consistency and detect process drift.
• Lead process qualification and validation with engineering, defining when an energetics process is qualified and frozen.
• Own review and release of energetics batch records and ensure data integrity.
• Collaborate with SRM-focused supply chain engineer on energetic raw material quality.

Job description

The future of aerospace and defense starts here.

Ursa Major was founded to revolutionize how America and its allies access and apply high-performance propulsion, from hypersonics to solid rocket motors, satellite maneuvering and launch. We design and deliver propulsion and defense systems that solve the most urgent and critical national security demands.

Overview

The Senior SRM Quality Engineer - Energetics owns product and process quality for solid rocket motor propellant manufacturing: ammonium perchlorate (AP) milling, propellant mixing, casting, and cure. This is a hands‑on, high‑ownership role embedded with our Manufacturing, Engineering, and Development teams, with a primary mission of ensuring process control and product integrity from raw energetic materials through a cured, inspected motor.

This engineer will also build out our in‑house radiographic NDT capability, working alongside a Level 3 NDT technician. That means optimizing our existing X‑ray system in the near term, then standing up additional radiography systems as program needs grow, and using radiographic findings to drive improvements back into the propellant processes. While the role supports broader SRM quality (insulation, liners, composites, FOD control) and compliance efforts, energetics process quality and radiography are its core.

This role reports into the Quality organization and is fully integrated with the SRM energetics, product, and manufacturing teams. It works closely with the Level 3 NDT technician, the site Radiation Safety Officer, EHS and process safety, propellant engineering, and the SRM-focused supply chain engineer.

Core Responsibilities

Energetics Process Quality

Own the quality of propellant manufacturing processes in close partnership with our design and energetics engineers, who set product and process requirements. Quality's role is to ensure those requirements are validated and consistently met in production for:

• AP milling and particle size measurements/morphology: particle size distribution verification, mill parameter control, moisture control, lot traceability, and blend ratios of coarse/fine fractions.
• Mixing: raw material acceptance and lot control, ingredient weigh‑up verification, mix sequence and parameter control (time, temperature, vacuum, shear), and in‑process sampling and testing (e.g., viscosity, pot life, end‑of‑mix properties).
• Casting: vacuum casting parameter control, pot life management, void prevention, flow and fill verification, and witness/test specimen generation.
• Cure: cure cycle verification and monitoring against engineering‑defined profiles, oven and temperature uniformity verification, data recording and review, and post‑cure property testing (e.g., hardness, mechanical properties, density).

Within these processes, the engineer will:

• Work with design and energetics engineers to identify critical process parameters and key characteristics, then implement the sampling plans, inspections, and reaction plans that verify them.
• Validate that engineering‑defined propellant and ingredient acceptance criteria, specifications, and lot release requirements are met, and flag requirements that are unclear or can't be verified.
• Apply SPC and data‑driven methods to monitor batch‑to‑batch consistency and detect process drift early.
• Facilitate process FMEAs and control plans with engineering for new and changing energetics processes.
• Lead process qualification and validation with engineering, defining when an energetics process is qualified and frozen, and own change control for qualified processes.
• Own review and release of energetics batch records (weigh‑ups, mix parameters, cure profiles) and ensure data integrity.
• Work closely with the SRM‑focused supply chain engineer on energetic raw material quality, including incoming acceptance and lot‑to‑lot variability.
• Ensure test equipment and instrumentation supporting energetics processes (balances, thermocouples, rheometers, particle size analyzers, ovens) are calibrated and fit for use, and lead MSA / gage R&R on critical test methods (e.g., viscosity, particle size, mechanical properties, density).
• Embed quality requirements within energetics safety constraints, working closely with EHS and process safety teams.

Radiographic NDT: Optimize and Build Out

Own our radiography capability for SRM inspection, first optimizing the existing system and then standing up new systems as needed. Responsibilities are split as follows: the Level 3 NDT technician owns technique development, procedures, and personnel certification; the site Radiation Safety Officer owns radiation safety and licensing; and this engineer owns inspection requirements, acceptance criteria, capital projects, and integration with production.

Optimize the existing system :

• Assess current X‑ray equipment against SRM inspection needs (motor size, defect types such as voids, cracks, and bondline separations, and required sensitivity).
• Drive the improvement roadma