Lead Design Engineer, Additive Manufacturing

Hadrian - Manufacturing the Future

Hadrian is building autonomous factories that help aerospace and defense companies manufacture rockets, satellites, jets, and ships up to 10x faster and up to 2x cheaper. By combining advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we are reinventing how America produces its most critical parts.

Valued at $1.6B, we’re accelerating our mission with the launch of Factory 3 in Mesa, Arizona, a 290,000-square-foot facility creating 350 new jobs. We are expanding rapidly to support thousands of future hires, launching Hadrian Maritime to expand into naval production, and introducing a Factory-as-a-Service model that delivers complete systems instead of individual parts.

Hadrian is backed by leading investors including T. Rowe Price, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and Andreessen Horowitz, our fast-growing team is united around reindustrializing American manufacturing for the 21st century and beyond.

The Role:

We are seeking a customer-facing Technical Lead with demonstrated experience designing advanced metal additive manufacturing hardware for regulated or high-reliability environments. The ideal candidate brings strong expertise in Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM), supported by proficiency in analytical tools such as finite element analysis (FEA), computational fluid dynamics (CFD), thermal analysis, and topology optimization. This role requires hands-on experience with advanced additive design software platforms (e.g., nTopology, Oqton 3DXpert, Hyperganic, LEAP 71, or similar tools) and the ability to translate complex or evolving requirements into manufacturable, performance-validated designs. The successful candidate communicates technical trade-offs clearly, collaborates effectively with customers and cross-functional manufacturing teams, and delivers innovative, production-ready hardware solutions aligned with quality, cost, and performance objectives.

What You’ll Do:

• Lead end-to-end design of customer hardware from requirements definition and concept development through production-ready release, ensuring manufacturability, performance validation, and inspection readiness.

• Facilitate structured customer workshops to define technical requirements, propose additive manufacturing (AM)-optimized architectures, and drive alignment on feasible, build-ready solutions.

• Apply advanced Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) principles, including build orientation, support strategies, distortion risk mitigation, post-processing integration, and critical-to-quality feature definition.

• Perform and review multiphysics analyses (e.g., FEA, CFD, thermal, coupled simulations), topology optimization, and advanced geometry development to validate performance against defined requirements.

• Partner cross-functionally with Applications Engineering, Materials & Process Engineering, Systems Engineering, Quality, and Operations to ensure scalable, repeatable production and support root cause and corrective action activities as needed.

What We’re Looking For:

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, aerospace, or a related engineering field (or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience).

• Demonstrated experience designing metal additive manufacturing hardware in regulated or high-reliability industries (e.g., aerospace, defense, energy, medical, or similar).

• Advanced knowledge of Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM), including architecture selection, build strategy, post-processing considerations, and production release practices.

• Experience conducting and interpreting multiphysics simulations (e.g., FEA, CFD, thermal analysis) to validate structural, thermal, and fluid performance.

• Proficiency with advanced additive design and modeling tools (e.g., nTopology, Oqton 3DXpert, Hyperganic, LEAP 71, or comparable platforms), as well as CAD, GD&T, and drawing release standards.

What Will Set You Apart:

• Experience developing reusable design methodologies, templates, or simulation workflows that scale across teams or programs.

• Demonstrated expertise in topology optimization, implicit modeling, lattice structures (e.g., TPMS, graded lattices), or advanced internal flow path and heat exchanger design.

• Experience presenting technical design reviews to customer engineering teams and executive stakeholders.

• Publicly available technical publications, case studies, or conference presentations demonstrating advanced additive design capabilities.

Compensation:

For this role, the target salary range is $200,000-$225,000 (actual range may vary based on experience).

This is the lowest to highest salary we reasonably and in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the range may be modified in the future. An employee's pay position within the salary range will be based on several factors, including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees

• 401k

• Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need.

• Flexible vacation policy

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Hadrian Is An Equal Opportunity Employer

It is the Company’s policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. The Company does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race inclusive of traits historically associated with race (including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, such as braids, locks and twists), color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, national origin (including, in California, possession of a drivers license), ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, height or weight, medical condition, family care status, military or veteran status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, exercise of reproductive rights, any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws, or any combination of the above characteristics. When necessary, the Company also makes reasonable accommodations for disabled candidates and employees, including for candidates or employees who are disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.