Tribology Engineer III

Tribology Engineer

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We're working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!

This role is part of Advanced Concepts and Enterprise Engineering (ACE), supporting Blue Origin's mission of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. The team fosters innovation and drives engineering workflows of the future, shared solutions and standards, simplicity and lower costs, and manufacturable design.

As part of a hardworking team of engineers, you will contribute to and lead investigations into tribology-related challenges from around the company. This role applies standard engineering methods to design and analyze systems and processes, developing and supporting engineering artifacts across the full lifecycle — from fabrication and assembly through verification, test, and operations. Responsibilities include implementing operating procedures, troubleshooting system malfunctions, and running feasibility studies and testing on new or modified designs.

The role also involves evaluating customer design proposals and specifications for feasibility, cost, and maintainability, and specifying or directing modifications to ensure components meet engineering and performance requirements. This role provides a critical function in support of all development and production activities within the Enterprise Engineering M&P Engineering Organization, based in the Kent, Washington area.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Partner with component design engineers to optimize seals, bearings, and sliding mechanisms for performance and longevity.
• Assess and develop wear interfaces, including specifying surface finishes and coating solutions that meet mission requirements.
• Identify lubrication and wear-related risks and suggest effective mitigation strategies.
• Plan, recommend, and execute material screening and wear-life test campaigns to validate design choices and uncover damage modalities.
• Influence material system selection, design for producibility, and rugged/robust product architecture across the program lifecycle.

Minimum Qualifications:

• B.S. degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Material Science, or related field with a minimum of 5 years product-focused tribology application experience.
• Hands-on experience partnering with hardware design function to develop and execute test plans to characterize friction and wear of tribological systems containing metallic and non-metallic elements.
• Fundamental understanding of the behavior of material interfaces in relative motion, to support design decisions with respect to operation in high vibration and/or in-space environments.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated experience supporting flight production programs.
• Experience with characterization of wear surfaces and materials using methods such as: optical microscopy, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectroscopy, x-ray fluorescence, fractography, etc.
• Expertise in at least one of the following:
• Vacuum-compatible dry film lubricants and deposition processes
• Tribology of metal-on-metal interfaces exposed to wide temperature ranges
• Vacuum- and propellant-compatible greases
• Experience with surface engineering, residual stress treatments, superfinishing, coatings and other surface modifications.
• Demonstrated experience authoring specifications and process control documents.
• Experience with statistical analysis methods and related tools.
• Familiarity with standard methods for testing mechanical properties (including fatigue, fracture, creep, stress rupture) of metallic and soft materials.
• Experience with failure analysis and forensic investigations.

Base Pay Range for:

WA applicants is $ - $

Other site ranges may differ

Culture Statement

Don't meet all desired requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single desired qualification. At Blue Origin, we are dedicated to building an authentic workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every desired qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway.

You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Export Control Regulations

Applicants for employment at Blue Origin must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e. current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Background Check

• Required for all positions:
  Blue's Standard Background Check
• Required for Certain Job Profiles:
  Defense Biometric Identification System (DBIDS) background check if at any time the role requires one to be on a military installation
• Required for Certain Job Profiles:
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