Manufacturing Engineer; CMC ) Redondo

Staff Manufacturing Engineer (CMC Applications)

Department: Manufacturing

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Redondo Beach

Compensation: $175,000 - $215,000 / year

As a Staff or Principal Manufacturing Engineer for CMC Applications
at Impulse Space, you will own the end-to-end ceramic matrix composite manufacturing capability, from material selection and process development to qualified, flight-ready hot-section hardware. You will work across propulsion, structures, materials, and quality, and directly with floor technicians, to take ultra-high-temperature composite parts from concept to rate production.

• Own and mature the end-to-end manufacturing process for C/SiC and related ceramic composite hardware in ultra-high-temperature applications, from preform architecture through densification, machining, and coating.
• Develop and qualify densification and joining processes (CVI, PIP, brazing), including furnace cycle definition, tooling, fixturing, and run-to-run repeatability.
• Analyze candidate fiber, matrix, and coating systems and build the supply chain strategy: qualify vendors, dual-source critical materials, and de-risk long-lead precursors.
• Define the inspection, acceptance, and validation approach for manufactured parts, NDI methods (CT, ultrasonic, thermography), coupon tests, allowable development, and first-article inspection.
• Author and own process specifications, travelers, and work instructions; drive configuration control and change management.
• Design tooling, mandrels, and shop aids for CMC part fabrication and assembly.
• Partner with propulsion, structures, and thermal teams on DFM feedback so producibility is built into the design rather than discovered on the shop floor.
• Lead root-cause investigations on process escapes and drive corrective actions using RCA and structured problem-solving.
• Scale from prototype to rate production: capital equipment selection, facility layout, cycle time, yield, and cost per part.
• Work directly with technicians and machinists on the floor to produce flight hardware.
• Own the technical roadmap for CMC manufacturing capability, sequencing process development, capital investment, and qualification milestones against vehicle program needs.
• Mentor engineers and technicians, and influence the technical standard for high-temperature materials manufacturing across the organization.

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, materials science, chemistry, physics, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of experience developing or producing high-temperature materials or advanced composites, ceramic matrix composites, carbon-carbon, refractory metals, ablatives, or comparable systems; or a Master's degree with 3+ years; or a PhD in a relevant field with 1+ years of hands-on experience.
• Demonstrated experience in aerospace, defense, hypersonics, gas turbine, nuclear, energy, or industrial ceramics.

• CMC manufacturing for aerospace or defense flight hardware.
• SiC matrix densification via CVI, with working knowledge of PIP, CVD, melt infiltration, and the trade-offs between them.
• Vacuum and high-temperature furnace operation, instrumentation, and maintenance.
• Rocket engine propulsion fundamentals and hot-section hardware manufacturing, nozzles, throats, combustion chambers, and thermal protection systems.
• Fiber preform architecture: braiding, filament winding, 2D/3D weaving, additive preforming, and the effect of architecture on densification uniformity.
• NDI methods for ceramic composites and interpretation of defect indications against acceptance criteria.
• Finite element analysis of anisotropic and high-temperature materials.
• Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and statistical process control in a low-volume,…