Founding Engineer — Advanced Manufacturing

Founding Engineer — Advanced Manufacturing

Cortheon is an MIT spinout reinventing investment casting, starting with the materials and processes that determine what foundries can make. We’re combining the design freedom of 3D printing with the economics of casting so engineers can design metal parts for performance, not the limits of conventional tooling.

Our Synth Cast materials and 3D printed patterns are engineered to work with existing precision metal foundry workflows and we are partnering with foundries across the country. We develop the materials and tooling while our foundry partners cast the final metal parts.

From more efficient marine propulsion to lighter aerospace and automotive components and better data center cooling, our goal is to make optimized metal parts practical to manufacture at scale.

We’re looking for a founding engineer to help lay the foundation for our engineering team. You’ll turn new materials and early demonstrations into a reliable process for foundry pilots and repeat orders. You’ll work directly with the founders and will lead technical projects independently. As we grow, you’ll shape our equipment and engineering practices and help hire, lead, and inspire future engineers.

This is your opportunity to be a leading voice in engineering  you ready to step up?

• Develop and improve our resin-printing and post-processing methods, working closely with the materials team to test new formulations.
• Design experiments, measure parts, and troubleshoot failures to improve dimensional accuracy, surface finish, reliability, and throughput.
• Design patterns, casting trees, fixtures, and test equipment in CAD. Prepare complex geometries for printing and casting with input from our foundry partners.
• Build or modify equipment and test setups, including simple automation where it helps the process.
• Run trials with foundry partners, investigate results, and turn successful experiments into documented methods the team can repeat.

We’re looking for an outstanding engineering generalist with superb design instincts, natural leadership traits, and a practical, hands‑on approach. Above all, we want someone who can take a difficult technical problem, decide what needs to happen, and see it through without constant direction. You should be curious, resourceful, and comfortable learning new tools or skills when a project calls for them.

• Substantial hands‑on 3D-printing experience is strongly preferred. Resin, metal, plastic, and composite printing backgrounds can all be relevant.
• Strong CAD skills and practical experience developing, building, testing, and troubleshooting parts, equipment, or manufacturing processes.
• A track record of independently leading technical projects, designing useful experiments, and interpreting test data.
• Careful lab and chemical‑handling habits, and clear communication with teammates, suppliers, and foundry partners.

We prefer several years of relevant industry experience, roughly 3-5 or more, but make exceptions for exceptional talent. Recent graduates with unusually strong hands‑on project experience are encouraged to apply.

Mechanical, process, manufacturing, materials, chemical, and related engineering backgrounds are all relevant. A specific degree matters less than demonstrated engineering ability.

• Investment casting experience would help with pattern and gate design, shelling, dewaxing, and interpreting casting defects. Other useful experience includes photopolymers, dimensional inspection, machining, electronics and controls, or simulation.

CAD automation and computational design using nTop, Materialise, Rhino/Grasshopper, Python, or similar tools would also be valuable as we automate more of the process. You do not need experience in all of these areas.

We expect to find a candidate within the salary range of $100,000 to $150,000 plus equity, commensurate with experience level.

This is a full‑time, 40-hour-per-week, exempt, on‑site role in Billerica, Massachusetts.

Are you metal enough to cast your future with Cortheon?