Materials & Process Engineer

About the role

We are seeking an experienced Materials & Process Engineer to join our dynamic team. This role is pivotal in supporting the development of fully and rapidly reusable launch vehicles like Nova. You will lead strategy, testing, characterization, and qualification efforts centered around Stoke's material systems. You will collaborate with various teams throughout the product lifecycle, ensuring reliability, performance, and producibility.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the responsible M&P engineer for Stoke's engines, structures, mechanisms, coatings, and adhesives
• Trade, evaluate, and select appropriate materials for a variety of hardware systems, considering performance requirements, cost, and sustainability factors
• Design and execute material characterization programs: mechanical testing, environmental exposure, fatigue, and failure analysis, generating original properties data
• Author, implement, and maintain M&P requirements, material specifications, testing protocols and engineering work standards related to Stoke material systems
• Lead failure analysis and root cause investigations for material-related anomalies, establishing corrective action processes that feed back into design iteration
• Evaluate, qualify, and manage material suppliers, including receiving inspection criteria, lot acceptance requirements, and supply chain risk mitigation
• Define the strategy and qualification philosophy for materials at Stoke
• Collaborate with engines, structures, analysis, avionics, valves, welding, additive, and manufacturing to create a robust system level material property database
• Own and build out Stoke's materials characterization lab, testing protocols, and development workflows

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in materials science, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, physics, aerospace engineering, or a related technical discipline
• 3+ years of professional experience in materials engineering, with demonstrated expertise in material selection, characterization, qualification, testing, and failure analysis
• Background working across multiple material systems & processes - metals, soft goods, coatings, powder metallurgy, welding, and heat treatment
• Proficiency with material characterization techniques and tools - metallography, microscopy, mechanical testing
• Demonstrated track record of material and process decisions that have been validated through flight or equivalent high-reliability hardware programs

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree or PhD in materials science, chemical engineering, or a related field
• Experience architecting M&P programs for rocket systems across the full development lifecycle — requirements definition, trade studies, development testing, and qualification
• Familiarity with ASTM, NASA, AWS industry standards
• Expertise in key M&P disciplines including fracture mechanics, corrosion control, statistics, and failure analysis