Composites Engineer II/Senior

About the role

Based at Rocket Lab's site in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Composites Engineers facilitate and optimize production of solar products and sub-systems for a high-growth, high-consequence production environment, ensuring best-practice manufacturing principles are employed to meet stringent deadlines. Join a driven team of pioneers relentlessly tackling challenging projects, delivering on the impossible, and making an impact on the future of space!

Responsibilities

• Work on ground-breaking products and processes. Introduce innovative manufacturing equipment and processes to the Production floor. Touch a satellite going to space!
• Taking ownership of Spacecraft composite production lines
• Serving as a hands-on support for the build of Spacecraft composite structures
• Pursuing continuous improvement and lean manufacturing techniques
• Managing project timelines
• Understanding technical and program risks
• Leading non-conformance and root cause analysis investigations
• Creating technical documentation
• Advising on design improvements for components, subsystems, procedures, equipment and tooling
• Working within a rapidly growing Space Systems team
• Working with highly motivated, enthusiastic professionals in a fun and supportive environment. Opportunity for growth
• If you bring experience within a regulated manufacturing industry, this would be advantageous

Qualifications as a Composites Engineer II

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Mechanical, Materials, Manufacturing, Industrial or Aerospace Engineering
• 2+ years of hands-on experience within a Composites manufacturing environment
• Knowledge of composite materials, manufacturing processes, testing techniques, and design techniques, including prepreg layup, machining, and structural assembly bonding

Qualifications as a Senior Composites Engineer I

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Mechanical, Materials, Manufacturing, Industrial or Aerospace Engineering
• 5+ years of hands-on experience within a Composites manufacturing environment
• Knowledge of composite materials, manufacturing processes, testing techniques, and design techniques, including prepreg layup, machining, and structural assembly bonding

Desired Qualifications

• Can-do approach and flexibility to thrive around growing teams and processes
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Proven risk assessment and risk-based decision-making skills
• Working experience with destructive and non-destructive testing of composite materials and subassemblies.
• Proven ability to deliver KPI’s (with little to no supervision) on schedule, as an individual or as a member of an integrated team
• Working experience with environmental acceptance/production acceptance testing, such as vibration, shock, thermal and vacuum
• Knowledge of composite related material properties including resin systems, structural bonding adhesives, and sandwich structures.
• Experience with composite structure repair techniques and processes
• Experience in manufacturing and assembly of composite structures into larger assemblies.
• Knowledge of production quality metrics
• Experience with ERP/PLM Systems - Siemens Team Center/Infor LN
• Experience in configuration control and configuration management in production systems
• Demonstrated experience with DFMEA, PFMEA methodologies, Fault Tree Analysis, Pareto analysis, root cause and corrective actions
• Proven ability to deliver new product implementation activities on time and to budget
• Familiar with engineering change processes and implementation in production environments
• Understanding of process qualification theory