Materials Engineering Intern (Summer 2027)

About the role

Freeform builds AI-native manufacturing systems that unify software, hardware, and physics to produce industrial-scale parts at the speed of human ideation. By treating manufacturing as a single integrated system, we unlock a new era of innovation where complex hardware is designed, built, and scaled without limits.

As a Materials Engineering Intern at Freeform, you will help establish and refine materials testing infrastructure and best practices for some of the world's most advanced metal 3D printing systems. You will work closely with experienced engineers to study material behavior within the printing process, building a foundational understanding of metals characterization and applying those insights to support materials testing and process improvement. You'll collaborate with process development, mechanical, and simulation engineers to analyze material property data and post-print characteristics, contributing to rapid iteration and continuous improvement of the printing technology.

3D printing experience is not required to be successful here; we look for smart, motivated, collaborative engineers who love solving hard problems and creating amazing technology!

Responsibilities

• Assist the Materials Engineering team in operating equipment to measure material properties such as tensile strength, surface roughness, and microstructure
• Support generation and tracking of quality metrics for printed customer parts such as dimensional accuracy, defect distribution, and surface roughness
• Organize, analyze, and help interpret materials data, and assist in presenting key findings
• Assist in developing and optimizing metallurgical sample preparation techniques such as cutting, grinding, polishing, acid etching, and optical microscopy
• Support the process development team in tying materials findings into upstream printing process improvements
• Help establish and refine procedures for measuring and quantifying material quality

Requirements

• Currently pursuing Bachelor's degree in materials science, materials engineering, metallurgy, mechanical engineering, or similar discipline
• Experience with experimental design and statistical data analysis
• Strong data analysis skills and ability to interpret important information from extremely large data sets

Nice to Have

• Undergraduate research experience in materials science, metallurgy, or mechanical engineering
• Exposure to metallurgical sample preparation such as cutting, grinding, polishing, acid etching, and optical microscopy
• Experience with metal additive manufacturing or laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) processes
• Experience operating materials characterization equipment (SEM, Instron, etc.)
• Experience with statistical data analysis software such as R, JMP, or Minitab
• Passion for improving the state of metal 3D printing
• Comfortable working in fast-paced, ambiguous environments and iterating quickly (comfortable building the plane as we fly it)
• Strong communicator who collaborates across disciplines and proactively seeks support when needed
• Willing to take ownership of tasks big and small, with a hands-on, problem-solving mindset
• Strong work ethic with a refuse-to-fail mindset
• Demonstrated indicators of excellence and/or achieving success against adversity (i.e. top academic performance, leadership in engineering clubs, first-generation college student, or other examples of resilience and achievement)

Location

Based in Hawthorne, our vertically integrated facility brings technology development, R&D, and production together under one roof. We operate at the center of LA’s deep tech ecosystem, surrounded by some of the most ambitious hardware innovation happening anywhere in the country. Our fast-paced, cross-functional environment is built on close collaboration, and as such, this role requires full-time onsite presence (five days a week), with very limited exceptions.

Benefits

• Free daily catered lunch and dinner, and fully stocked kitchenette
• Casual dress, flexible work hours, and regular catered team building events
• Relocation assistance provided

Pay

• Engineering Intern/Undergraduate: $30/hour
• Engineering Intern/Masters: $32.50/hour
• Engineering Intern/PhD: $35/hour