Lead Additive Manufacturing Materials Engineer

Eaton’s AER HQ Headquarters Aerospace division is currently seeking a Lead Additive Manufacturing Materials Engineer.

The expected annual salary range for this role is $97000 - $143000 a year.

Please note the salary information shown above is a general guideline only. Salaries are based upon candidate skills, experience, and qualifications, as well as market and business considerations.

This role requires working on-site at our N. Charleston, SC facility. Relocation assistance is available for a qualified candidate currently residing in the USA.

Job summary

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is an exciting new technology that offers substantial benefits to the Aerospace industry. Eaton Aerospace has leveraged the technology to create superior products and capture profitable growth for the businesses reaching $2.7B LOP in awarded business and multiple Government-funded projects. This has resulted in significant program growth since the inception of AM in the Eaton Aerospace business with 36 awarded parts and 100+ active programs at the Digital Design and Additive Manufacturing Center (DDAMC) located in Charleston SC - 450% growth since 2021.

The number of awarded flight hardware metal components is driving the need for more expert roles in the areas of operation and value stream management, manufacturing, materials, process engineering and new product implementation to help set up for the future and avoid issues with today's operation.

This new position will support the Chief Material Engineer as the AM metal expert for DDAMC responsible for providing materials & M&P support to the manufacturing and engineering personnel of our Aerospace AM Group. The role will be a key materials engineering resource at the Charleston (SC) site to support the on-going development of the AM process and its transition to production.

Significant exposure across multiple divisions, sites and product lines.

• Provide metallurgical technical support for strategic AM modalities such as laser powder bed fusion (PBF-L) and electron beam powder bed fusion (PBF-EB) technologies for Aerospace applications
• Manage external M&P suppliers including raw material/feedstock, heat treatment, surface finishing, and test labs
• Provide hands-on work to characterize powder feedstock and consolidated materials; creating select lab standards and work instructions; and training support personnel on in-house equipment, maintaining equipment and documentation related to post-processing and material property testing
• Oversee some of the day-to-day operation, maintain a quality system in the materials lab, ensure safe work practices are maintained, and drive future expansion at the facility to add capacity and material characterization capability
• Support or drive the qualification of new, advanced materials/metals and manufacturing processes for high-performance applications such as Aerospace
• Support development and execution of overall M&P strategy that supports the AM Team business strategy to meet growth, cost, and quality targets

• Support and/or lead M&P work for new AM processes, implement installation and qualification of new machines needed to grow and sustain AM Group
• Support and own government-funded projects aligned with the AM M&P strategy and in collaboration with the ERL
• Apply a fundamental understanding of heat treatment processes (such as hot isostatic pressing, solution annealing, quench processes, stress-relieving, and artificial aging), industrial surface finishing methods (such as chemical milling, anodizing, chem filming, barrel finishing, and grip blasting), material characterization/metallography techniques (such as light optical and scanning electron microscopy, bulk and microhardness, and image analysis), and mechanical and physical testing methods (such as high-cycle and low-cycle fatigue, tensile, compression, fracture toughness, etc.)
• Apply a fundamental understanding of the interaction of metal feedstock with dynamic PBF and DED processes and the impact of rapid solidification on material properties at the microstructural level
• Monitor and implement…