Composites R&D Technician

About Castelion

Castelion is bringing a new approach to defense development and production: one that focuses on short, iterative design cycles, rapid testing in development, and modern commercial manufacturing strategies for production at scale. We’re designing, building, and testing next generation long range strike weapons systems to give America and its Allies a definitive edge and deter future conflicts.

Composites R&D Technician

Castelion is seeking an accomplished Composites Material Technician to help advance cutting-edge manufacturing processes for our hypersonic products. In this role, the Composites Material Technician will work closely with the materials engineering team to define and execute manufacturing processes for the fabrication of ultra-high temperature ceramic matrix composite (CMCs) materials. The role will require; the mastering of complex processes such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), operation of high-temperature furnaces and ovens, and the production of prepreg materials.

Responsibilities

• Execute complex work instructions and document any obstacles to achieving technical goals
• Work with engineering teams to provide feedback and develop high-temperature composite manufacturing processes
• Operation of CVD reactors to support development and fabrication of CMC parts
• Provide feedback on work instructions to streamline future builds

Basic Qualifications

• 3+ years of composite manufacturing experience
• Experience with operations/product line management
• Demonstrated direct or indirect leadership

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in composite fabrication processes including hand layup, filament winding, tooling preparation, vacuum bagging, resin infiltration, and resin cure processes
• Experience in high-temperature vacuum furnace operation
• Experience in CVD reactor operation
• Experience with CMC processing
• Experience in qualification and acceptance testing of composite structural components
• Working experience with capacity modeling, process mapping, Lean/Six Sigma and value stream mapping
• Experience in transitioning development processes to rate production

Additional Requirements

• Must be willing to work extended hours and/or weekends as needed.
• Must be able to travel up to 30%
• All employees are granted long-term stock incentives as part of their employment at Castelion. All employees receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance, and the company offers three weeks of paid time off per year.

Leadership Qualities

Bias to Action and Creative Problem Solving. Desire and experience questioning assumptions in ways that lead to break through ideas that are ultimately implemented. Successfully bring in applicable processes/concepts/materials from other industries to achieve efficiency gains. Ability to personally resolve minor issues in development without requiring significant support.

High commitment, high initiative. A successful candidate will have a genuine passion for Castelion’s mission and consistently look for ways to contribute to the company’s technical goals and prevent hardware blockers. Ability to work in a fast paced, autonomously driven, and demanding atmosphere. Strong sense of accountability and integrity.

Clear communicator. Proactively communicates blockers. Trusted in previous roles to be voice of company with regulators, suppliers, gate keepers and customers. Capable of tactfully managing relationships with stakeholders to achieve company-desired outcomes without compromising relationships. Emails, IMs and verbal interactions are logical, drive clarity, and detailed enough to eliminate ambiguity.

ITAR Requirements:

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Employment with Castelion is governed on the basis of competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

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