Tribology Engineer III

Blue Origin LLC; Washington; On-site; USD 121,000 - 169,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) with company match

Stock options

Education Support Program

Paid time off & holidays

Job summary

Blue Origin LLC in the Kent, Washington area seeks a senior tribology engineer to design and test wear and friction in spaceflight hardware. You will partner with design engineers to optimize seals, bearings, and sliding interfaces across the program lifecycle.

Required are 5+ years in tribology, hands-on test planning, and surface characterization methods. The role supports Blue Origin’s mission in a safety‑focused, collaborative environment with opportunities to influence materials and testing

Qualifications

• B.S. degree or higher in Mechanical, Aerospace, or Materials science with 5+ years of tribology experience.
• Hands-on test planning and collaboration with hardware design to characterize friction and wear.
• Understanding of material interfaces in high vibration and space environments.

Responsibilities

• Partner with design engineers to optimize seals, bearings, and sliding interfaces.
• Assess wear interfaces and specify surface finishes and coatings.
• Identify lubrication risks and mitigation strategies.
• Plan material screening and wear-life test campaigns.
• Influence material system selection and producibility across the program.

Skills

Tribology experience

Test planning

Material science

Mechanical design

In-space environment

Education

B.S. in Mechanical/Aerospace/Material Science

Tools

Optical microscopy

SEM

EDS

X-ray fluorescence

Fractography

Job description

Application close date: Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed. At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! This role is part of Advanced Concepts and Enterprise Engineering (ACE), supporting Blue Origin’s mission of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. The team fosters innovation and drives engineering workflows of the future, shared solutions and standards, simplicity and lower costs, and manufacturable design. As part of a hardworking team of engineers, you will contribute to and lead investigations into tribology-related challenges from around the company. This role applies standard engineering methods to design and analyze systems and processes, developing and supporting engineering artifacts across the full lifecycle — from fabrication and assembly through verification, test, and operations. Responsibilities include implementing operating procedures, troubleshooting system malfunctions, and running feasibility studies and testing on new or modified designs. The role also involves evaluating customer design proposals and specifications for feasibility, cost, and maintainability, and specifying or directing modifications to ensure components meet engineering and performance requirements. This role provides a critical function in support of all development and production activities within the Enterprise Engineering M&P Engineering Organization, based in the Kent, Washington area.

Responsibilities

• Partner with component design engineers to optimize seals, bearings, and sliding mechanisms for performance and longevity.
• Assess and develop wear interfaces, including specifying surface finishes and coating solutions that meet mission requirements.
• Identify lubrication and wear-related risks and suggest effective mitigation strategies.
• Plan, recommend, and execute material screening and wear-life test campaigns to validate design choices and uncover damage modalities.
• Influence material system selection, design for producibility, and rugged/robust product architecture across the program lifecycle.

Minimum Qualifications

• B.S. degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Material Science, or related field with a minimum of 5 years product-focused tribology application experience. Hands‑on experience partnering with hardware design function to develop and execute test plans to characterize friction and wear of tribological systems containing metallic and non‑metallic elements. Fundamental understanding of the behavior of material interfaces in relative motion, to support design decisions with respect to operation in high vibration and/or in‑space environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience supporting flight production programs.
• Experience with characterization of wear surfaces and materials using methods such as: optical microscopy, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectroscopy, x‑ray fluorescence, fractography, etc.
• Expertise in at least one of the following: Vacuum‑compatible dry film lubricants and deposition processes Tribology of metal‑on‑metal interfaces exposed to wide temperature ranges Vacuum‑ and propellant‑compatible greases Experience with surface engineering, residual stress treatments, superfinishing, coatings and other surface modifications.
• Demonstrated experience authoring specifications and process control documents.
• Experience with statistical analysis methods and related tools.
• Familiarity with standard methods for testing mechanical properties (including fatigue, fracture, creep, stress rupture) of metallic and soft materials.
• Experience with failure analysis and forensic investigations.

Pay

Base Pay Range for: WA applicants is $121,023.00 - $169,432.20 Other site ranges may differ

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.
• Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
• Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.
• Dependent on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses based on the company's intent to reward individual contributions and enable them to share in the company's results, or other factors at the company's sole discretion. Bonus amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed and subject to change and cancellation. Please check with your recruiter for more details.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Blue Origin is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and is committed to attracting, retaining, and developing a highly qualified and dedicated work force.

Blue Origin hires and promotes people on the basis of their qualifications, performance, and abilities.

We support the establishment and maintenance of a workplace that fosters trust, equality, and teamwork.

We provide all qualified applicants for employment and employees with equal opportunities for hire, promotion, and other terms and conditions of employment , regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin/ethnicity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status, or any other status or characteristic protected by federal, state, and/or local law.

Blue Origin will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws, including the Washington Fair Chance Act, the California Fair Chance Act, the Los Angeles Fair Chance in Hiring Ordinance, and other applicable laws.

For more information on “Know Your Rights,” please see here.

Affirmative Action and Disability Accommodation Applicants wishing to receive information on Blue Origin’sAffirmative Action Plans, or applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in the application and/or interview process, please contact us at [e-mail]. Please note this is a publicly managed inbox. Please do not include any personal medical information in your request.

Culture

We’re committed to building the road to space so our children can build the future.

We are a mission-driven company focused on ideas and innovation, and encourage fresh perspectives from bold voices.

At Blue, our team is building the future as their unique selves.

Thank you for your interest in working at Blue Origin!

Blue Origin was founded with a vision to enable a future where millions of people are living and working in space to benefit Earth.

In order to preserve Earth, Blue Origin believes in the need to enable humanity to expand, explore, find new energy and material resources, and move industries that stress Earth into space.

Blue Origin believes it has an important role in building a road to space and lowering the cost of getting there.

At Blue Origin, we’re working on this today by developing fully reusable launch vehicles and systems that are safe, reliable and affordable.

Every launch vehicle is designed for human spaceflight from the beginning and able to ferry payloads to space.