Materials & Process Engineer, Metals

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 design, build, and test next generation weapon systems to give America and its Allies a definitive edge in defense capabilities.

Materials & Process Engineer, Metals

We are seeking an experienced materials & process engineer to join our team as the recognized authority for all metallic materials. This person will be driving material and associated process selection for flight hardware, leading supplier qualification efforts, and defining inspection protocols to ensure performance, reliability, and manufacturability goals are met.

The successful candidate will have a strong foundation in metallurgy, materials characterization, failure analysis, and corrosion science, combined with a comprehensive knowledge of metal manufacturing processes. They should also have demonstrated experience taking a metallic material system from early-stage development through full qualification and certification for flight hardware.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the subject matter expert on metallic material selection for flight hardware to ensure suitability across high-temperature, cryogenic, and corrosive operational environments. Advise design and manufacturing teams to inform trade-offs between performance, manufacturability, and cost.
• Develop and qualify manufacturing processes such as heat treatment, forging, casting, welding, additive manufacturing, and machining. Collaborate with suppliers and internal teams to ensure process repeatability and adherence to aerospace standards.
• Develop and maintain material specifications, process standards, and test procedures. Support certification, audits, and reviews, ensuring compliance with internal and external standards (ASTM, AMS, MIL, NASA).
• Conduct qualification testing and root cause investigations of material-related failures using metallurgical analysis, microscopy, and mechanical testing.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Materials Engineering/Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or related discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in a fast-paced aerospace, automotive, or manufacturing production environment.
• Deep expertise in metallic systems (aluminum, titanium, nickel, steel, copper alloys) and their manufacturing and joining processes.
• Familiarity with aerospace material standards (AMS, ASTM, MIL, NASA).
• Strong understanding of high temperature/cryogenic, corrosion and fatigue behavior in aerospace metallic materials.

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Masters degree in Materials Engineering/Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or related discipline.
• Proven experience taking a metallic material system from design and development through full qualification and certification.
• Material characterization and NDE experience (OM, SEM, EDS, XRD, tensile/compressive strength, high-cycle fatigue, hardness, fracture toughness, UT, CT, PT).

Leadership Qualities

• Bias to Action and Creative Problem Solving. Desire and experience questioning assumptions in ways that lead to break through ideas that are ultimately implemented. Successfully bring in applicable processes/concepts/materials from other industries to achieve efficiency gains. Ability to work independently and resolve minor issues in development with minimal oversight and 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.