Sr. Materials Engineer (Starship)
Cape Canaveral, FL · 5+ years experience · Posted Oct 6, 2026
At a glance
- Experience
- 5+ years experience
- Location
- Cape Canaveral, FL
About the role
- The Starship Materials Engineering team serves as experts in various materials disciplines to support the design, build, maintenance, and refurbishment of Starship hardware. This role focuses on developing and qualifying materials and processes for reliability in extreme environments for both new and flight-proven vehicles.
Responsibilities
- Design, develop, and deploy materials and process direction for Starship design, manufacturing, maintenance, and refurbishment
- Increase reliability of Starship manufacturing, maintenance, and reuse processes through material and process selection, analysis, development, and test
- Develop physical, mechanical, and thermal properties for materials
- Improve special processes and materials through characterization and development
- Work directly with component design build and test engineering, design reliability, and production teams daily
- Perform root cause investigations using fractography, metallography, and testing
- Provide technical reviews and advising for design efforts specifically related to drawings, specifications, and material requirements
- Collaborate with other engineers, subject matter experts, and technicians to solve complex material and processing challenges
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in materials engineering or other engineering discipline with emphasis on materials
- 5+ years of professional work experience in a materials engineering related role
- Experience and expertise with multiple manufacturing methods: tribological coatings, sheet/plate metal processing, casting, forging, brazing, welding, and heat treating
- Must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee to conform to U.S. Government export regulations
Preferred qualifications
- Master's degree or PhD in materials engineering or related field
- Tribological processes including evaluating and implementing protective coatings for thermal wear, atmospheric, and space environments
- Understanding of mechanical testing methods for metals including wear, tensile, fracture and fatigue
- Experience with failure analysis and fractography including FTIR, SEM, and metallographic analysis
- Knowledge of aerospace metals including nickel-based alloys, stainless steels, aluminum alloys, and titanium alloys
- Knowledge of fluid and gas compatibility for launch vehicle and spacecraft propulsion and fluid systems
- Hands-on experience in a manufacturing environment
- Understanding of non-destructive test methods for fracture and fatigue control
Workplace
- Up to 10% domestic travel is expected
Skills
- Materials Engineering
- Tribological Coatings
- Metallography
- Fractography
- FTIR
- SEM
- Heat Treating
- Welding
- Brazing
- Forging
- Casting
- Failure Analysis
Show all 13 skills
- Mechanical Testing
