Materials Scientist – Material and Process Development Research Triangle, NC

Materials Scientist – Material and Process Development

Research Triangle, NC

Vulcan Elements is manufacturing American rare-earth permanent magnets for a secure, resilient future. With a focus on national security and economic resiliency, we serve critical industries such as defense, aerospace, and automotive powering a high-technology future. Vulcan Elements is building a team of ambitious professionals committed to Mission Focus, Technical Excellence and Transparency.

This role is focused on physics-based and hybrid computational modeling of metallic materials and manufacturing processes and can have one of two specialties: computational materials engineering or hands-on experimental validation. The engineer will develop, validate, and deploy predictive models spanning process physics, microstructural evolution, and property response. This position directly supports process design, scale-up, and performance optimization through simulation-driven insight.

• Develop and apply physics-based models using ANSYS (Rocky, Mechanical, Maxwell, Fluent) for thermal, electromagnetic, mechanical, and particulate process simulations.
• Build process–structure–property modeling workflows integrating experimental and production data.
• Implement Python-based automation for simulation execution, parameter studies, and result post-processing.
• Expand predictive capability using DFT, CALPHAD, Phase Field, and Molecular Dynamics where appropriate.
• Develop reduced-order and hybrid physics–ML models for rapid prediction and process optimization.
• Define modeling assumptions, boundary conditions, and validation strategies tied to experimental data.
• Communicate model outputs in terms directly actionable for process and design engineers.

• B.S. or higher in Materials Science & Engineering, Metallurgy, or closely related field
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• Demonstrated hands-on experience with metallic materials processing or manufacturing
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• Strong proficiency in Python for scientific computing and automation.
• Experience with ANSYS simulation platforms
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• Solid understanding of thermomechanics, transport phenomena, and microstructural evolution
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• Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities.

• Experience with DFT, CALPHAD, Phase Field, or Molecular Dynamics
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• Experience integrating physics-based and data-driven models
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• Background in magnetics, powder processing, thermal processing, or solidification modeling.