About the roleCanada Rocket Company is building a sovereign launch capability for Canada. We're looking for a Manufacturing and Materials Specialist to drive the selection, qualification, and control, of the materials and fabrication processes that turn our structural designs into reliable, flight-ready hardware. This role sits at the intersection of materials science, engineering, production, quality, and supply chain, with responsibility spanning material systems, process definition, producibility, inspection, and failure investigation.
You will work tightly with the structures, fluids, avionic, and mechanism teams to select and qualify materials, define and optimize fabrication methods, establish process controls, and resolve real-world manufacturing challenges as hardware moves from development to flight-ready build.
What you'll do- Work with specialists, structural and mechanical designers to define and execute the material and manufacturing engineering approach for structures, spanning material selection, process development, fabrication planning, producibility, industrialization, and build support
- Develop and maintain material specifications, process specifications, qualification plans, and workflows
- Characterize and evaluate material behaviour relevant to design and manufacturing.
- Define, develop, optimize, and control fabrication processes for vehicle structural elements
- Develop manufacturing plans, traveler documents, work instructions, build sequences, and process flows that enable safe, repeatable, efficient fabrication of flight hardware
- Partner closely with design teams to ensure metallic hardware concepts are aligned with real process capability, source availability, and production constraints
- Support development and maturation of key manufacturing methods
- Work with operations and supply chain teams to identify, qualify, and mature suppliers for critical raw materials, forgings, and fabricated components
- Support sourcing decisions with an understanding of material pedigree, domestic or allied source considerations, lead times, certifiability, traceability, and long-term scalability
- Lead or support failure analysis and manufacturing investigations
- Resolve shop-floor and production issues including non-conformances, rework paths, process escapes, yield issues, and fabrication anomalies
- Contribute to technical reviews, trade studies, and development planning related to materials, manufacturing methods, production scaling, and hardware risk reduction
QualificationsRequired - Experience in manufacturing engineering, materials engineering, or process engineering for metallic aerospace hardware or similarly demanding hardware environments
- Strong understanding of metallic material systems, including how alloy choice, product form, temper or heat treatment condition, and processing history affect performance, manufacturability, durability, and cost.
- Experience developing, utilizing, supporting, or optimizing fabrication processes for hardware ( machining, welding, forming, joining, heat treatment, or assembly)
- Strong understanding of the interaction between materials and manufacturing methods, especially where fabrication route directly affects strength, fatigue performance, distortion, residual stress, crack initiation, dimensional control, or inspectability.
- Experience creating or managing manufacturing documentation, process flows, work instructions, build plans, or fabrication sequences.
- Strong engineering fundamentals related to material behaviour, manufacturing process capability, producibility, and practical hardware realization.
- Ability to work cross-functionally with design engineering, production, operations, suppliers, and adjacent technical teams in a fast-paced hardware environment.
- Strong communication and technical judgment, with the ability to make sound decisions that balance performance, manufacturability, schedule, scalability, and cost.
Preferred - Direct experience with launch vehicle, spacecraft, propulsion, pressure vessel, tank, thrust structure, manifold, or other high-performance aerospace hardware.
- Hands-on experience with aluminum alloy structures, welded assemblies, machined components, formed shells, machined manifolds, pressure-containing hardware, or thermally demanding metallic components.
- Experience with welding process development or qualification, including friction stir welding and other relevant joining methods.
- Experience with source qualification and supplier development for metallic raw material and fabrication processes.
- Familiarity with NDT/NDE methods relevant to metallic and composite hardware.
- Familiarity with AS9100, NASA, ECSS, or similar aerospace process and manufacturing environments.
- Bachelor's or advanced degree in materials engineering, mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, aerospace engineering, or a related field.
*note: To hold the title of Engineer, and take responsibility for designs that impact public safety, candidates are required to hold a current P.Eng License, in good standing.
