Automation Engineer, Material Conveyance

Hadrian is building autonomous factories that help aerospace and defense companies manufacture rockets, satellites, jets, and ships up to 10x faster and up to 2x cheaper. By combining advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we are reinventing how America produces its most critical parts. We’re accelerating our mission with the launch of Factory 3 in Mesa, Arizona, a 290,000-square-foot facility creating 350 new jobs.

About the role

We are hiring our first Automation Engineer focused on Material Flow to own how parts move across Hadrian factories. You will scope, deploy, and operate AMR fleets, floor conveyance, overhead material movement via cranes / gantries / hoists, and the MES / WMS integration that turns Hadrian's cells into an actual factory instead of a collection of islands. You will work closely with Factory Automation, Operations, Facilities / EHS, Mechanical / Cell ME, and the factory software team that owns MES / WMS. This is a hands-on, on-the-floor role.

Responsibilities

• Scope, select, and commission AMR fleets: vendor trade-off, pilot, volume rollout, fleet-manager configuration, charging / docking, acceptance testing, and ramp support.
• Design conveyance runs (belt / roller / chain-on-edge / pallet / lift) for inter-cell and intra-cell flow with cycle-time math, WIP buffers, jam recovery, maintainability, and failure-mode handoff.
• Design overhead material movement where floor conveyance or AMRs are the wrong tool: bridge cranes, gantries, hoists, lift assists, below-the-hook tooling, safe zones, and operator workflow.
• Own traffic and lift-zone management: intersections, charging zones, docking, crane envelopes, mixed human / robot aisles, pedestrian crossings, suspended-load boundaries, and safety zones.
• Integrate AMRs, conveyance, and overhead movement with MES / WMS, PLCs, cell controllers, and crane controls via VDA 5050, OPC-UA, MQTT, REST, and discrete / safety-rated handshakes where appropriate.
• Simulate (AnyLogic / FlexSim / Emulate3D / Plant Simulation) to validate throughput, WIP, aisle layout, charging locations, crane coverage, lift zones, and safety constraints before buying hardware.
• Partner with cell-level MEs on pickup / dropoff / lift interfaces: dunnage, presentation, hard stops, rigging points, sensors, clearances, and recovery after failed transfers.
• Build the material-flow standards and runbook every future factory inherits.

Requirements

• Bachelor's in ME, EE, Mechatronics, Industrial Engineering, or related.
• 3+ years deploying AMRs / AGVs, conveyance, overhead material-handling equipment, or hybrid material-flow systems in a production environment.
• Has personally commissioned at least one fleet (MiR, OTTO, Fetch, Zebra, Geek+, 6 River), one full conveyance run (Hytrol, Dematic, Intralox, Daifuku), crane / gantry / hoist cell interface, or similar production material-flow system.
• Working knowledge of VDA 5050, OPC-UA, MQTT, REST, PLC handshakes, and MES / WMS integration.
• Safety fluency for mixed pedestrian / robot aisles, lift zones, suspended loads, and operator recovery workflows.
• Simulation reps (AnyLogic / FlexSim / Emulate3D / Siemens Plant Simulation) or equivalent layout / throughput modeling.

Skills

• Factory-scale material-flow reps (20+ AMRs, full-factory conveyance network, or hybrid AMR / conveyance / overhead movement system).
• ROS / ROS2 exposure for when vendor fleets fall short.
• Crane / hoist / lift-assist integration experience, especially around heavy or awkward aerospace hardware.
• Python for data pulls and fleet / WMS / equipment analytics.
• Lean / industrial engineering fundamentals (takt, kanban, water-spider replacement).
• EV / battery / aerospace / maritime material-flow at volume.

Pay

$140,000 – $220,000 (actual range may vary based on experience)

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees
• 401k
• Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need
• Flexible vacation policy
• Equity

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.