Senior Manufacturing Engineer - Nozzles

Why Castelion, Why Now 

Castelion is moving incredibly fast to develop and deliver advanced defense systems at a time when execution matters more than ever. We believe focus, ownership, and excellence are decisive advantages - and we're building a world-class team to turn bold ideas into real capability. 

This is a rare opportunity to join at an early stage, where you'll have significant ownership, collaborate with exceptional teammates, and make a direct, measurable impact on our mission and the future of the company - regardless of your function.  

Job Description: Senior Manufacturing Engineer – Nozzles

Solid Rocket Motors – Aerospace & Defense

Position Overview

We are seeking a Senior Manufacturing Engineer to own nozzle manufacturing for Castelion’s solid rocket motors. This role focuses on developing, qualifying, and scaling production of nozzle assemblies—including throats, exit cones, insulation, structural shells, closures, and motor interfaces—for hypersonic programs including Blackbeard. You will lead process definition for machining, composite or metallic fabrication, structural bonding, insulation application, assembly, inspection, and integration of nozzles onto motor hardware. Partnering with Design, Quality, Tooling & Automation, Production, and Site Operations, you will deliver repeatable, high-reliability nozzle hardware from development builds through high-rate production.

Key Responsibilities

• Own manufacturing processes for SRM nozzles and related hardware, including throat and exit-cone fabrication, insulation, structural bonding, machining, assembly, and motor-interface integration.

• Develop and qualify manufacturing sequences, fixtures, work instructions, and control plans that meet dimensional, thermal-structural, and reliability requirements.

• Execute DFM/DFA, PFMEA, and statistical process control (SPC) to improve first-pass yield, cycle time, and cost.

• Define in-process inspection, metrology, and NDE strategies for nozzle geometry, bond-line quality, insulation integrity, and interface features.

• Partner with Tooling, Automation & Controls on machining fixtures, assembly jigs, handling equipment, and automated or semi-automated work cells.

• Support new product introduction and design changes with producibility input on materials, tolerances, stack-ups, and assembly sequence.

• Lead root-cause analysis and corrective actions for dimensional escapes, bond or insulation defects, machining issues, and integration problems.

• Author and maintain travelers, cure or process profiles, and quality records compliant with AS9100 and customer requirements.

• Collaborate with suppliers on throat materials, composites, insulation, and machined components; drive incoming quality and process capability.

• Support equipment qualification and production ramp at the Project Ranger campus in New Mexico.

Required Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Materials Science, or related field.

Experience:

• 6–10+ years of manufacturing engineering experience in aerospace, defense, or high-reliability propulsion or composite/metallic structures.

• 3+ years of hands-on ownership of nozzle, throat, exit-cone, or similar high-temperature propulsion hardware manufacturing.

• Demonstrated success qualifying processes and transitioning nozzle or analogous hardware from development to production.

Technical Skills

• Strong experience with precision machining, composite or metallic fabrication, insulation application, and structural bonding of propulsion hardware.

• Proficiency in CAD (SolidWorks or NX), GD&T, tolerance stack-up, and fixture concepting.

• Working knowledge of PFMEA, SPC, root-cause methods (8D, fishbone), and process qualification.

• Familiarity with metrology (CMM, laser trackers, or equivalent) and NDE used on bonded or composite structures.

• Understanding of thermal-structural hardware requirements, interface control, and contamination-sensitive assembly practices.

• Ability to write clear work instructions and support shop-floor execution.

Preferred Experience

• Direct manufacturing experience on solid rocket motor nozzles, throats, exit cones, or comparable missile/space propulsion hardware.

• Background in fast-paced defense or space production environments.

• Experience with carbon-carbon, graphite, composite, or high-temperature metallic nozzle materials in a production setting.

• Prior work integrating nozzles to motor cases or closures.

• Familiarity with AS9100, ITAR programs, and manufacturing in energetic-materials facilities.

• Track record reducing scrap, rework, or cycle time on flight-critical hardware.

Soft Skills

• Hands-on, detail-oriented, and effective at enforcing process discipline on the shop floor.

• Strong collaboration with Design, Quality, Bonding, Tooling, and Operations teams.

• Clear technical communication and documentation skills.

• Data-driven problem solver under schedule pressure.

• Safety-first mindset when working in facilities that handle energetic materials.

Castelion offers a generous benefits package. Please refer to the bottom of our Careers page for more details.  

Other Duties 

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice. 

Additional Eligibility Requirements 

This position may require access to classified information or restricted U.S. Government sites, systems, or information, as determined by the Company and/or applicable U.S. Government requirements. If the position is so designated, your employment in the role may be contingent upon your ability to obtain and maintain the required U.S. Government security clearance or other government authorization, and to satisfy any citizenship or other eligibility requirements imposed by applicable law, regulation, executive order, or government contract requirements. You will be notified if and when such requirements apply. 

Affirmative Action/EEO Statement 

Castelion is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. 

Castelion is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the application and hiring process. If you require a reasonable accommodation to complete an application, participate in the interview process, or otherwise participate in the hiring process, please contact [email protected]. Requests for accommodation will be considered on an individual basis and handled in accordance with applicable law. 

Castelion is committed to fostering a workplace where employment decisions are based on qualifications, business needs, and the ability to perform the essential functions of the role, with or without reasonable accommodation. 

EAR/ITAR Requirements 

This position requires access to export-controlled information, and as such, employment (or hiring of a contractor) is contingent upon the candidate’s ability to access all applicable export-controlled information without additional export licensing being required by the Bureau of Industry and Security and/or the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls.