Senior Contract Process Engineer​/Project Contractor

Beehive Industries is dedicated to

Powering American Defense by revolutionizing the design, development, and delivery of jet propulsion systems to support the warfighter. Through the integration of additive manufacturing, the company aims to meet the growing and urgent needs for unmanned aerial defense by dramatically improving a jet engine's speed to market, fuel efficiency, and cost.

Founded in 2020, the company is headquartered in Centennial, Colorado, with additional facilities in Knoxville, Tennessee, Loveland Ohio, and Mount Vernon, Ohio. Beehive is committed to grow and advance the defense industrial base while manufacturing exclusively in the USA. This role will be located at our Cincinnati. Ohio facility.

This highly experienced contract role leads the end-to-end in sourcing of pre-penetrant etch processes to support Fluorescent Penetrant Inspection (FPI). The position focuses on standing up safe, controlled, and scalable chemical etch operations that remove a precisely controlled layer of smeared metal (typically 0.00005-0.0002 in) from machined surfaces so that subsequent FPI can reliably detect surface-breaking defects. The role requires strong coordination across Facilities, EHS, Quality, Operations, and external vendors to design, qualify, and ramp the process from concept through production readiness.

This will be a 9 month plus contract position.

• Lead the full project to design, install, qualify, and scale in-house pre-penetrant etch capability supporting FPI, including process selection, equipment layout, and material-specific etch recipes (acids/alkalis tailored to alloys such as stainless steels, titanium, aluminum, nickel-based alloys, etc.).
• Coordinate closely with Facilities on space allocation, ventilation/exhaust systems, containment, utilities, emergency showers/eyewash, and wastewater/treatment infrastructure.
• Partner with EHS to develop and implement comprehensive safety programs, chemical handling procedures, PPE requirements, exposure controls, spill response, hazardous waste management, and regulatory compliance (OSHA, EPA, local environmental rules, and relevant aerospace/NDT standards).
• Manage vendors for equipment, chemicals, process controls, and analytical services; drive RFQs, technical evaluations, installation support, and ongoing supply agreements.
• Establish process controls including etch-rate monitoring, solution chemistry analysis, temperature control, process control coupons/tabs, statistical process control, and documentation to meet customer, NADCAP, ASTM E1417, NAS 410, and internal quality requirements.
• Develop and document standard operating procedures, work instructions, training materials, and qualification packages; support personnel certification where applicable.
• Drive risk assessments (PHA/HAZOP-style), FMEA, and continuous improvement to ensure the process is safe, repeatable, dimensionally controlled, and capable of supporting production volumes.
• Oversee pilot trials, process qualification, first-article runs, and transition to steady-state operations; troubleshoot chemistry, equipment, and quality issues during ramp-up.
• Ensure full traceability, dimensional impact control, and integration with upstream machining and downstream FPI workflows.

• Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Metallurgical Engineering, Chemistry, or related technical field required. Master's degree preferred.

• 10+ years of hands-on experience in chemical processing, metal finishing, etching/pickling, or surface preparation processes, with significant time in aerospace, defense, or high-reliability manufacturing environments.
• Demonstrated success standing up or transferring chemical…