Senior Materials & Joining Engineer

Senior Materials & Joining Engineer

Reports to:

Business Line Manager

About the Role:

We are a Southern California contract manufacturer specializing in the joining of dissimilar materials via brazing. This is a hands-on, highly technical role for an engineer who lives and breathes joining processes, someone who can serve as the resident subject matter expert on our floor, drive R&D projects from prototype through serial production and bring the depth of knowledge our work demands.

We are specifically seeking a candidate whose core expertise is in materials science and joining technologies, brazing first and foremost, with the credibility to lead, advise, and mentor on the production floor and in customer-facing technical discussions.

What You Will Own:

Brazing & Joining Process Authority:

• Serve as the on-site subject matter expert for all brazing and dissimilar material joining operations
• Develop, document, and optimize brazing procedures for production and new program introduction
• Define filler metal selection, flux selection, atmosphere/temperature profiles, and fixturing approaches
• Troubleshoot joint failures, porosity, wetting issues, and thermal distortion; root cause to corrective action
• Maintain and expand internal brazing process knowledge base

R&D to Serial Production:

• Lead new joining process development from feasibility through production readiness
• Define process qualification criteria and execute first article / process validation activities
• Drive PFMEA, control plans, and process documentation for new programs
• Partner with quality and operations to ensure processes are repeatable, measurable, and manufacturable at rate
• Identify and close gaps between prototype intent and production reality, early and often

GD&T / Design for Manufacturability:

• Review customer drawings and specifications for DFM and producibility relative to brazing and joining operations
• Identify and escalate tolerance stack-ups, joint accessibility issues, and material incompatibilities at the quoting stage
• Communicate design intent clearly across engineering, quality, and production teams
• Mentor younger engineers on GD&T interpretation and the relationship between design intent and joining process outcomes

Technical Leadership & Mentorship:

• Provide technical guidance to production floor teams on joining processes and quality standards
• Support customer technical reviews, PPAP activities, and supplier qualification efforts
• Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives tied to yield, throughput, and scrap reduction
• Help build and formalize the site's technical capability via documenting what has historically existed only as tribal knowledge

What We Are Looking For:

Required:

• 8–12 years of experience in materials joining engineering, with brazing as a primary area of expertise
• Demonstrated hands-on experience with brazing of dissimilar material combinations (metals, ceramics, or composites)
• Deep understanding of filler metals, flux systems, atmosphere furnace brazing, and torch/induction brazing processes
• Proficiency in reading and interpreting engineering drawings per ASME Y14.5 (GD&T)
• Experience taking joining processes from prototype or R&D phase into repeatable serial production
• Strong root cause analysis and corrective action skills (you've diagnosed real joint failures under production pressure)
• Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to non-engineers, customers, and production personnel

Strongly Preferred:

• Experience with aerospace, defense, or high-reliability manufacturing environments
• Familiarity with AMS, AWS, or MIL-spec brazing standards
• Background with dissimilar metal combinations such as stainless-to-copper, titanium-to-ceramic, or similar
• AWS Certified Brazing Engineer (CBE) or equivalent credential
• Experience supporting AS9100 or NADCAP quality systems
• Working knowledge of PFMEA, control plans, and APQP processes

You Are Probably a Fit If...

• You are most comfortable when you are on the floor rather than in a conference room
• You have opinions about filler metal selection and can defend them with data
• You have caught a tolerance callout that would have made a joint impossible to produce and said something!
• You appreciate tribal…