Senior Engineer, Materials

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 Knoxville, Tennessee facility.

The Senior Materials Engineer serves as a technical authority responsible for advancing materials, heat treatment, powder metallurgy, and material characterization capabilities for critical aerospace and defense applications. This role provides expert individual contribution and project guidance in additive manufacturing (AM) metallurgy, material property optimization, and production integration while supporting strategic engineering initiatives. The Senior Materials Engineer drives solutions to complex technical challenges in material selection, post-processing, microstructural evaluation, and defect reduction to enable reliable, high-performance additive manufacturing operations.

• Serve as a technical authority for aerospace-grade metals, powder characterization, heat treatment development, and material qualification across additive manufacturing workflows.
• Define technical strategies, material roadmaps, and material characterization protocols to support process development and production scalability.
• Establish and improve material specifications, heat treatment standards, powder control limits, and technical documentation.
• Drive resolution of complex challenges related to powder metallurgy, solidification behavior, microstructural evolution, thermal history, defect mechanisms, and mechanical performance.
• Lead development and qualification of production-ready material processing specifications, including hot isostatic pressing (HIP), heat treatment, and surface finishing.
• Apply advanced expertise in metallurgy and materials science to optimize mechanical properties, static/fatigue performance, microstructural integrity, and defect reduction.
• Influence integration of materials engineering practices into broader manufacturing workflows, including post-processing, machining, NDT/inspection, and quality management systems.
• Guide cross-functional engineering teams in solving complex metallurgical problems and evaluating new material technologies.
• Mentor junior engineers and materials specialists, fostering technical growth across materials and additive manufacturing initiatives.
• Support strategic decisions regarding testing laboratory capabilities, material suppliers, powder reuse strategies, and future materials technology.
• Represent materials engineering expertise in technical reviews with leadership, customers, suppliers, and government/industry partners.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science & Engineering, Metallurgy, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical field; or equivalent combination of education and experience

• Minimum of 5 years of related experience with a; or 3 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD without experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Demonstrated experience developing, characterizing, and qualifying high-performance metallic materials and heat treatments for production applications.
• Experience leading complex materials engineering…