Senior Systems Engineer, Metal Manufacturing

Senior Systems Engineer, Metal Manufacturing

San Diego, CA | xCell | In office | Full-time

Firestorm is looking for a Senior Systems Engineer, Metal Manufacturing who will be part of a team building new variants of a fielded platform—including a metal manufacturing capability that doesn’t exist anywhere else in this form. We need an engineer who wants to own hard problems from first principles through production. This is not a maintenance role. You have a senior engineering background with deep hands‑on experience in metal additive and subtractive manufacturing, and you’ve taken complex hardware from concept to fielded product.

You’ll work as a senior individual contributor with real autonomy, but you also understand the value of input from your teammates. You’ll shape how we approach metal manufacturing engineering challenges at a company that is still early enough for your fingerprints to matter.

• Metal manufacturing development – guide the engineering effort to define, develop, prototype, and product ionize xCell’s metal manufacturing capability; drive the process from trade studies through fielded solution
• Process definition – establish the manufacturing processes, parameters, and quality criteria that will govern metal part production in a deployed environment; you know what good looks like and can define it for others
• New product development – define the problem, run trade studies, establish constraints, iterate design, prototype, and drive to production across metal manufacturing variants
• Systems‑level thinking – xCell is an integrated system and the metal manufacturing capability has to work within it; you see the whole picture across mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, and software interfaces
• Post‑processing and finishing – own the full part journey from raw feedstock through final part, including CNC machining, finishing operations, and inspection; you understand that additive is only part of the story
• Sustaining engineering – when something breaks in the field or fails to deliver as advertised, you help drive solutions with the xCell engineering team
• Technical leadership – you’ll be a senior anchor on a talented, growing team; you elevate the engineers around you without being asked to

• Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing, Mechanical, Industrial Engineering or related field. In lieu of a degree 10+ years of progressive relative experience in the engineering field.
• U.S. Citizenship required due to ITAR regulations, with the ability to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance
• 7+ years of hands‑on hardware development experience – concept through production, not just analysis
• Deep experience in metal additive manufacturing – strong powder bed fusion background considered if other attributes are compelling
• Hands‑on CNC machining experience – you understand the subtractive side of the equation and how it integrates with additive processes to get to a final part
• Systems engineering mindset – you can hold requirements, tradeoffs, and interfaces in your head simultaneously
• Proficiency with CAD (Solid Works preferred) and PLM tools

• Experience with directed energy deposition (DED), wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), or cold spray
• Experience in defense, aerospace, naval, medical, or automotive applications – we care more about the depth of your metal manufacturing experience than the sector it came from
• High ownership mentality – you close loops, you don’t wait to be told, and you hold yourself and others to a high standard
• Additional metal forming, cutting, or finishing process experience beyond CNC
• Familiarity with metal part qualification and inspection in regulated or defense environments
• Experience defining and documenting manufacturing processes from scratch

Firestorm is a defense technology company solving one of the hardest logistics problems in modern warfare — how do you manufacture what you need, when you need it, and where you need it without support from traditional supply chains? Our answer is xCell: containerized, deployable manufacturing units built around advanced additive and traditional manufacturing that go…