Advanced Process Engineer; Metal AM

Boom is building Superpower, a first-of-its-kind industrial gas turbine for behind-the-grid energy generation, and Symphony, the engine that will return supersonic flight to passengers. Both run on high-temperature nickel superalloys, in parts that are already designed. Our job is making sure those parts exist on schedule - and additive manufacturing, running in parallel with castings, is how we guarantee it. We are standing up the metal AM line right now - machines, parameters, applications, and the quality systems to run it reliably.

This role is the process engineer at the center of it.

At an established AM shop, a process engineer runs existing parameter sets on certified machine platforms. The alloys are qualified, the windows are defined, and the job is yield and cycle time. The interesting decisions were made before you arrived.

This is not that job.

Boom needs to print high gamma prime nickel superalloys - the crack-prone, heat-treat-sensitive alloys that break every standard LPBF approach - on extreme-preheat machines the industry is still figuring out, with build-preparation software that gives us control most shops never touch. The parts are designed and the requirements are set; the process to print them doesn't exist. We need the engineer who will design the DOEs, build the parameter sets from scratch, own the application development for real engine parts, and write the process the team runs in production.

The supply chain can't do this for us. That's why this role exists.

• Design and execute DOEs for hard-to-print metal alloys on production LPBF machines - and document what you learn
• Develop process parameters from scratch for extreme-preheat platforms printing crack-prone superalloys
• Own part-specific application development: build orientation, support strategy, distortion compensation, depowdering, heat treat and HIP specification, machining interfaces, and inspection plans
• Automate the work: programmatic DOE generation and build prep to minimize manual work and set up files in a fraction of the normal time
• Write the documentation that carries the process from R&D to production: procedures, work instructions, build records, powder reuse tracking, traceability
• Help scope, procure, install, and commission equipment - then use it and train others on it
• Work shoulder-to-shoulder with technicians and M&P engineers - everyone in this lab builds, documents, and troubleshoots

The manufacturing process you need won't exist yet - you'll develop it. Many of these alloys are notoriously difficult to print and the machines we're bringing in are at the frontier of what the industry has qualified. The parts you print will run in an engine, which means your process rigor, approach to quality, and documentation discipline have to be absolute.

If a result is uncertain, we need to know that more than we need it to look ready.

• A Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD in engineering with a focus on materials, manufacturing, or additive manufacturing
• 5+ years of experience in LPBF process and/or applications development on real programs, with real customers and real consequences (we're hiring across a range of levels - exceptional depth can substitute for years)
• Hands-on LPBF experience: you have personally loaded powder, set up builds, monitored them, and debugged failure modes - not just prepared files
• Process development ownership: parameters you developed, DOEs you designed, failure modes you diagnosed and closed
• Working knowledge of build-prep software, such as:
  Dyndrite, Magics, 3DXpert, EOSPrint, Netfabb, or similar
• Programming experience
  - Python preferred - and the instinct to automate anything you've done twice
• Do…