Senior Materials and Process Engineer, Space

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. By bringing the expertise, technology, and business model of the 21st century’s most innovative companies to the defense industry, Anduril is changing how military systems are designed, built and sold. Anduril’s family of systems is powered by Lattice OS, an AI-powered operating system that turns thousands of data streams into a realtime, 3D command and control center. As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting-edge autonomy, AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the military in months, not years. ABOUT THE TEAM Anduril's Space team is dedicated to expanding our AI-powered capabilities into the final frontier, enhancing Space Domain Awareness, Space Control, and Command and Control for U.S. military and allied partners. We're developing fully integrated hardware and software systems, including Lattice for Space Missions and modular payloads, to address growing threats in space and ensure our Guardians maintain a decisive advantage in this contested war-fighting domain.   WHAT YOU’LL DO   Standards Development & Implementation   Maintain material and process standards, including banned/approved materials lists, common material coatings, common procedures, and corrosion prevention and control requirements   Develop and advance hardware design standards and common parts libraries   Support comprehensive technical documentation (standards, procedures, test reports, vendor specifications, etc.)    Testing & Characterization   Design and conduct testing to establish materials performance properties.   Manage relationships with internal and external test laboratories for materials characterization and failure analysis   Accelerate material evaluation, implementation, and qualification   Select appropriate characterization equipment; oversee data acquisition and analysis   Contamination Control   Develop and manage contamination budgets across multiple space programs, balancing operational costs with performance risks   Implement and monitor contamination controls in assembly, integration, and test (AI&T) environments including cleanrooms, thermal chambers, and TVAC facilities   Establish contamination monitoring protocols and cleanliness verification procedures   Apply working knowledge of contamination control procedures and best practices for precision optics   EEE Parts & PCBA Process Oversight   Develop and maintain EEE parts selection and qualification requirements across programs   Define PCBA process specifications including soldering, conformal coating, staking, rework, and inspection criteria   Evaluate tin whisker and lead-free solder risks on commercial parts; develop mitigation strategies   Support avionics qualification, test planning and execution   Material Selection and Design Support   Collaborate with design engineers to select appropriate materials for spacecraft components   Conduct material trade studies, evaluating performance against cost, manufacturability, and space environmental compatibility   Understand how material selection affects the spacecraft subsystems including contamination of precision optics over the lifecycle of the spacecraft   Cross-Program Leadership   Use first principles as a basis for decisions. Continuously look for opportunities to simplify and standardize.   Prioritize efforts across multiple concurrent programs based on technical risk and schedule impact   Identify recurring issues and implement scalable solutions as the organization grows   Support failure reviews and root cause investigations, building consensus on corrective actions   Support material review boards and evaluate material waiver requests   Review vendor and subcontractor designs for materials and contamination compliance; develop clear technical requirements     REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS   BS in Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, or related field   3+ years of hands-on experience with space hardware materials and processes.    Familiarity with space industry standards (NASA-STD-6001, ECSS-Q-ST-70C, etc.)   Proven experience establishing technical standards or specifications for hardware programs   Strong foundation in materials science principles, including material properties, surface chemistry, and contamination mechanisms   Demonstrated ability to design experiments, analyze data, and draw defensible engineering conclusions   Self-directed work style with ability to define scope for ambiguous problems   U.S. citizenship required     PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS   Knowledge of manufacturing processes (bonding, heat treating, machining, coating, surface finishing, welding, composites, soldering, etc.)   Experience with contamination control and/or EEE parts selection and PCBA materials (manufacturing, acceptability, failure analysis) is highly desired.    For candidates with contamination control experience the following are desired:   Intimate familiarity with cleanroom classification levels, best practices, and operations   Hands-on experience with spacecraft contamination control    Experience with outgassing characterization (ASTM E595, ASTM E1559)    For candidates with EEE parts selection and printed circuit board assembly experience the following are desired:   Experience with EEE parts qualification and destructive physical analysis (DPA)   Knowledge of manufacturing processes (PCB manufacturing, PCB assembly)   Experience with conformal coating selection, application processes and inspection    Prior electronic failure analysis experience   Experience with contamination modeling tools   Proficiency in interpreting data from different material characterization techniques (FTIR, SEM, TGA, etc.)   Understanding of space environment effects (charged particle radiation, UV exposure, atomic oxygen)   Experience in adjacent high-reliability industries (aerospace, defense, semiconductor, medical devices)   Experience with contamination control for precision optics or infrared sensor systems   Experience with statistical analysis tools and design of experiments (DOE)     US Salary Range $132,000 — $198,000 USD The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are included in the majority of full time offers; and are considered part of Anduril's total compensation package. Additionally, Anduril offers top-tier benefits for full-time employees, including:     Benefits At Anduril, we invest in our people. Our comprehensive, competitive benefits package (available at little to no cost to employees) ensures you’re supported in health, recovery, and whatever comes next.  For more information, Explore Our Benefits .   Protecting Yourself from Recruitment Scams Anduril is committed to maintaining the integrity of our Talent acquisition process and the security of our candidates. We've observed a rise in sophisticated phishing and fraudulent schemes where individuals impersonate Anduril representatives, luring job seekers with false interviews or job offers. These scammers often attempt to extract payment or sensitive personal information. To ensure your safety and help you navigate your job search with confidence, please keep the following critical points in mind: No Financial Requests:  Anduril will never solicit payment or demand personal financial details (such as banking information, credit card numbers, or social security numbers) at any stage of our hiring process. Our legitimate recruitment is entirely free for candidates. Please always verify communications: Direct from Anduril: If you receive an email from one of our recruiters, it will only come from an @anduril.com address. Via Agency Partner: If contacted by a recruiting agency for an Anduril role, their email will clearly identify their agency. If you suspect any suspicious activity, please verify the agency's authenticity by reaching out to contact@anduril.com .  Exercise Caution with Unsolicited Outreach:  If you receive any communication that appears suspicious, contains grammatical errors, or makes unusual requests, do not engage. Always confirm the sender's email domain is @anduril.com before providing any personal information or clicking on links. What to Do If You Suspect Fraud:  Should you encounter any questionable or fraudulent outreach claiming to be from Anduril, please report it immediately to  contact@anduril.com . Your proactive caution is invaluable in protecting your personal information and upholding the security and trustworthiness of our recruitment efforts.   Data Privacy To view Anduril's candidate data privacy policy, please visit https://anduril.com/applicant-privacy-notice/ .     By submitting your application, you consent to Anduril Industries using a third-party service provider to conduct pre-employment risk, integrity, and due diligence screening and assessing potential risks as part of your application process. This third-party service provider provides risk-intelligence services that may include analysis of sanctions and watchlists, adverse media, public-record information, and other lawful open-source or commercial data sources. This third-party service provider does not act as a consumer reporting agency. Use of this provider helps to ensure compliance with applicable laws and protect technology, intellectual property, and organizational security.