Casting Technician

Boom is building supersonic jet engines out of nickel superalloys - some of the most demanding metals in aerospace - and we're bringing casting capability in-house. Our first casting capability is currently being installed and activated and this role immediately engages as a key participant during commissioning and then leads the hands-on portion of the first pour.

The rarest kind of foundry job

At an established foundry, you inherit the furnace, the procedures, the interlocks, and the layout - all of it decided years before you arrived. You run the standard, and the interesting decisions belong to someone else.

This is not that job.

At Boom you'll be in the room while a casting unit is still lines on a drawing - reviewing equipment specs and cell layouts, catching the safety and process problems before they get built, running utility tie-ins, rigging furnaces into place, and writing the first melt procedures. Then you'll be the one making the first heats. The unit will pour the way you built it to.

What you'll do

• Guide the buildout of Boom's casting unit from concept to first heat: layout and spec reviews, vendor engagement, installation, commissioning, and shakedown
• Bring hot-metal judgment to design decisions: crucible and refractory practice, mold handling and preheat, pour practice, charge handling and moisture control
• Turn wrenches: rig and set equipment, run utility tie-ins with facilities - power, cooling water, compressed air, vacuum, inert gas - assemble, align, leak-check, and shake down
• Own safety foresight: identify water/molten-metal interfaces and other hazards at the drawing stage; help specify interlocks, containment, and emergency response for the cell
• Write and validate the unit's first melt and pour procedures, maintenance plans, and spares systems - then improve them
• Execute melt and pour operations as the unit comes online, with documentation that survives scrutiny
• Work shoulder-to-shoulder with engineers as a peer - flag manufacturing issues early, push back with specifics, and help the team make good decisions

The procedures you need are first iterations - you’ll help us improve them pour over pour. The equipment you’ll run is complex but it is the same equipment you just helped commission and test. The metal you'll pour is unforgiving of moisture, contamination, and shortcuts, so your experience and judgement are key inputs to help the team produce high quality parts safely.

This team loves feedback and if a layout, spec, or design is going to cause a manufacturing problem we want to hear it early and often so we can solve it together.

You probably have

• 5+ years of hands-on foundry or melt shop experience, including personally melting and pouring heats
• High-melt alloy experience - nickel or cobalt superalloys, steels, or titanium; vacuum melting (VIM) experience is a strong plus
• Real mechanical craft: tools, rigging, alignment, assembly, and preventive maintenance ownership
• Working fluency in the utilities that feed a furnace: electrical power and controls, cooling water, compressed air, vacuum systems, and inert gas
• Deep, specific molten-metal safety knowledge - especially the water/molten-metal hazard and how to design and operate against it
• Experience installing, rebuilding, or commissioning furnace or casting equipment
• Proven ability to communicate equally well with engineers and technicians alike and robust documentation habits that would survive an audit of melts and pours.

It would be great if you have

• Investment casting exposure: shell handling, dewax, mold preheat, and mold handling at temperature
• Vacuum systems depth: leak detection, pump rebuilds, gauging and interlocks
• Refractory installation or furnace rebuild/reline experience
• Experience in an…