Materials Engineer I

External Job Description

About Us

PowerTech is a leading innovator in propulsion technologies, specializing in cutting-edge microjets, turbofan engines, and internal combustion engines. We are dedicated to advancing propulsion systems through rigorous testing, precision engineering, and robust manufacturing processes.

Role Summary

We are seeking a Materials Engineer to support the development and qualification of advanced metallic materials for additive manufacturing. This role will focus on generating the experimental evidence needed to validate alloy concepts, assess additively manufactured material performance, and strengthen the link between alloy design, process conditions, microstructure, and mechanical behaviour.

Key Responsibilities

• Plan and execute experimental programmes to validate new alloy concepts and material hypotheses generated through computational alloy design and development activities.
• Prepare, coordinate, and assess material test campaigns for additively manufactured coupons, sub-scale demonstrators, and prototype parts across a range of metallic systems.
• Perform metallographic preparation and detailed microstructural characterisation using appropriate techniques such as optical microscopy, SEM/EDS, EBSD, XRD, and related methods to evaluate grain structure, phase balance, defects, and process response.
• Support the generation, execution, and interpretation of mechanical test programmes, including tensile, hardness, fatigue, creep, and related performance assessments, and correlate results with build condition, post-processing route, and alloy chemistry.
• Evaluate surface quality and integrity of additively manufactured parts through roughness and topography inspection, and support the understanding of how surface condition influences performance and downstream processing requirements.
• Work closely with alloy development, AM process, post-processing, design, and quality teams to provide material data and recommendations that guide alloy down-selection, process optimisation, and qualification planning.
• Maintain clear and traceable experimental records, compile technical reports, and present findings to internal stakeholders in a structured and technically sound manner.
  
  

• BSc or MSc in Materials Science, Metallurgy, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated experience in metallic materials characterisation and testing, ideally within additive manufacturing, aerospace, propulsion, or another high-performance engineering environment.
• Good understanding of the metallurgy of engineering alloys such as nickel superalloys, titanium alloys, steels, and aluminium alloys.
• Hands-on experience with metallographic preparation and microstructural analysis.
• Experience with mechanical testing and interpretation of material behaviour, including at least some of tensile, hardness, fatigue, or creep testing.
• Ability to link processing history, microstructure, and properties in a structured and analytical way.
  
  

• Familiarity with additive manufacturing materials development, including AM-related defects, anisotropy, and post-processing effects.
• Exposure to the validation of computational alloy design outputs through experimental work.
• Experience using equipment such as SEM/EDS, EBSD, XRD, CT, Alicona or other surface metrology systems, or equivalent characterisation tools.
• Knowledge of statistical methods, design of experiments, or structured data analysis for materials/process studies.