Tribology Engineer III

Application close date:
Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed. 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.

• Relocation provided
• Shifts available:
  First Interviews will include a technical assessment
• 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.

• 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.

• 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…