Materials Engineer​/Senior Materials Engineer

Overview

Apply now Job No: 503396
Work Type: Staff Full Time (1500 hours or greater)
Location: Dayton, OH
Category: Research Institute Staff
Department: Adv Mfg Materials - 250742
Pay Grade: R2/R3 - Exempt
Advertised: March 12, 2026
Applications close: Open until filled

Are you interested in working for UDRI, a national leader in scientific and engineering research, serving government, industry and nonprofit customers? UDRI contributes to the fulfillment of the University’s commitments to education, research and public service through the involvement of students, faculty, Staff, and external partners. Established as the research arm of the University of Dayton in 1956, UDRI achieved over $250M in sponsored research in fiscal year 2025.

We invite qualified candidates to apply for our Materials Engineer opening! This full time and benefit eligible position offers health, dental and vision insurance, retirement, disability, tuition assistance for you and your dependents, vacation, sick, and holiday pay. Apply today!

This position will focus on understanding the material science issues of advanced manufacturing including additive manufacturing and repair technologies, and connecting material properties to part end-use needs. This will include test plan development and execution, test data interpretation, material/process risk assessments and selection, troubleshooting, ideation for process improvements and/or material replacement, understanding structure-property and process-property relationships, validation of part performance vs.

end-use requirements, and evaluation of new and emerging technologies. The position will be initially focused on metal powder bed fusion additive manufacturing, cold spray repair, and directed energy deposition technologies.

Responsibilities

• Perform test plan development and execution; interpret test data and conduct material/process risk assessments.
• Troubleshoot, ideate for process improvements and/or material replacement.
• Understand structure-property and process-property relationships to validate part performance against end-use requirements.
• Evaluate new and emerging technologies in the context of advanced manufacturing.
• Focus initially on metal powder bed fusion additive manufacturing, cold spray repair, and directed energy deposition technologies.

Minimum Qualifications

R2 Materials Engineer

Qualifications:

• BS degree or higher in relevant engineering field (such as materials, chemical, metallurgical, or aerospace).
• 3 years of directly related experience with material characterization, property development, or product development including method selection or development, data collection, and analysis.
• 1 year of directly related experience with metals-based additive manufacturing (laser-powder bed fusion, direct energy deposition, or a related technology).
• 1 year of experience in material characterization including mechanical testing (tensile, fatigue, etc.) or metallographic evaluation (grain size, phase fraction, porosity, etc.).
• Experience with Design of Experiments (DoE) and statistical analysis including analysis of variance (ANOVA).
• Experience working in a manufacturing setting.
• Experience with creating or maintaining operational documents or quality system documents.
• Experience with process optimization or continuous improvement.
• Strong technical writing and verbal communication skills.
• Attention to detail and organizational skills.
• Self-motivation with ability to work with minimal supervision.
• U.S. Citizenship required due to government contract requirements.

R3 Senior Materials Engineer

Qualifications:

• Must meet all R2 minimum qualifications in addition to the following:
• 8 years of directly related experience with material characterization and property development including method selection or development, data collection, and analysis.
• 3 years of directly related experience with metals-based additive manufacturing (laser-powder bed fusion, direct energy deposition, or a related technology).
• 3 years of experience in mechanical testing (tensile, fatigue, etc.) or metallographic evaluation (grain size, phase fraction, porosity, etc.).
• 3 years of experience with DoE and statistical analysis…