Materials Engineer, Rocket Motor Systems

Anduril Industries · McHenry, Mississippi · $87,000-$116,000 USD Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. Anduril's Rocket Motor Systems (RMS) team is rebuilding U.S. domestic production capacity for solid rocket propulsion. We're looking for a Materials and Process (M&P) Engineer to help connect how a motor is formulated, tested, and built to how it actually performs. You'll work across the full stack of solid rocket motor materials: insulation, seals, propellants, motor cases, nozzles, and energetic systems. As a Materials and Process Engineer, you'll help build the M&P infrastructure that lets the RMS team scale from prototype development to high-rate production, contributing to the material specifications, process specifications, acceptance test procedures, and design allowables that turn fast-moving development work into clear, configuration-controlled engineering documentation. Responsibilities Connect polymeric material properties, characterization, and processing fundamentals to solid rocket motor design, formulation, testing, manufacturing, and performance Build and maintain material specifications that connect system performance requirements to formulation for polymeric materials spanning raw materials, components, and assemblies Develop standard testing procedures to characterize the mechanical, viscoelastic, thermal, and surface behavior of polymeric materials across solid rocket motor components and assemblies Create process specifications for manufacturing operations including propellant processing, ablative manufacturing, insulation/liner bonding and surface preparation, surface modification, coating application, adhesive curing, heat treatment, and final assembly Run materials characterization for polymeric materials including mechanical testing, thermal analysis, rheology, cure kinetics, surface energy and interfaces, and ablation performance Develop design allowables from characterization results per industry standards Partner with design and manufacturing teams to review drawings and manufacturing plans, support design reviews, and troubleshoot production issues Work across science, engineering, manufacturing, quality, and program teams to turn mission requirements into right-sized material and process solutions Contribute to cost-reduction and cycle-time improvement efforts for high-rate production and prepare technical documentation Required Qualifications Bachelor's degree in Materials Science, Polymer Engineering, Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related field 2+ years of materials and process engineering experience in material testing for aerospace, propulsion, or defense applications Working knowledge in one or more of the following: polymer mechanics and rheology, propellant materials and processing, adhesive bonding, cure kinetics, and surface preparation Exposure to developing material or process specifications Experience with material characterization, testing, and documentation Strong technical writing and attention to detail Ability to manage multiple priorities independently in a fast-paced environment Must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. Top Secret security clearance Preferred Qualifications Master's or Doctorate in Materials Science, Polymer Engineering, Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related field Direct experience with materials used in solid rocket motors Depth or growing interest in two or more of the following: high-temperature coatings, adhesives, insulation, liners, and ablatives; polymer surface characterization and modification; interfacial mechanics, chemistry, and behavior Hands-on experience with polymer processing, propellant processing, composite fabrication, ablative manufacturing, or metal case production Experience developing design allowables per CMH-17, JANNAF, or MIL-HDBK-17 standards Experience with NDI methods and developing inspection proced