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Hadrian is building autonomous factories to reindustrialize American manufacturing, combining AI, advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing for aerospace and defense customers. The company has raised $1.37B in Series D funding at a $7.87B valuation and is rapidly expanding manufacturing capabilities across welding, casting, forging, electronics, and additive manufacturing.
As Build Engineer, Castings, you will own large structural castings end-to-end from initial design review through qualification, ramp, and handoff to production. You serve as the critical bridge between product requirements and manufacturing capability, interpreting customer specifications and driving design-for-manufacturability (DFM) decisions that cascade through machining, welding, and final assembly.
Key responsibilities include:
- Translating customer specifications, drawings, and contract requirements into casting requirements, quality levels, and inspection criteria
- Reverse engineering castings from legacy drawings, incomplete data, or physical parts to establish design intent
- Reviewing designs for castability (wall thickness, draft, parting lines, shrinkage risk, NDT access) and driving pre-freeze changes
- Collaborating with Capability Engineering and foundry teams on gating, riser design, and solidification simulation
- Defining casting quality levels by zone and establishing weld repair limits
- Owning the complete casting route from pattern through pour, heat treatment, cleaning, NDT, weld repair, and inspection
- Establishing datums and machining stock for first-time-right machining setups
- Defining high-level processes (alloy, condition, quality levels, heat treatment, NDT methods, cycle times) for handoff to Capability Engineering
- Managing design intent for patterns, core boxes, and inspection fixtures with clear ownership and revision control
- Building and maintaining BOM structures, work orders, and work instructions in PLM, ERP, and MES systems
- Coordinating with Quality, NDT, and metallurgical teams on inspection plans and acceptance criteria per customer and naval requirements
- Recommending make-vs-buy decisions for castings and assessing outside foundries
- Planning and executing development articles and qualification castings, including dissimilar-metal development
- Owning disposition and root cause analysis for non-conformances, driving corrective action into design or process
The role is based at Hadrian's Navy-approved steel foundry in Kutztown, Pennsylvania (which includes on-site simulation, heat treat, NDT, metallurgical testing, and machining), or in Los Angeles with regular travel to Kutztown (up to 25%). You will spend significant time on the foundry floor for first castings and own outcomes across all your products.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 5+ years of experience in build, manufacturing, or casting engineering with direct ownership of large castings from requirements through production
- Bachelor's degree in Metallurgical, Materials, Mechanical, or Manufacturing Engineering, or equivalent hands-on experience
- Experience interpreting and defining product requirements from customer specifications, drawings, and contract quality clauses, and translating them into build requirements
- Working knowledge of large steel castings (sand molding, heat treatment, weld repair) and casting defects, deep enough to drive DFM and set quality levels
- Experience reverse engineering castings or cast assemblies from incomplete technical data, legacy drawings, or physical parts
- Understanding of NDT methods for castings (RT, UT, MT, PT) and how acceptance criteria flow from product requirements
- Experience structuring BOMs, work orders, and work instructions in PLM, ERP, or MES systems, including engineering change and configuration management
- Strong GD&T and 3D CAD skills
- Experience working on a foundry floor with melt, molding, heat treat, and inspection teams, and with outside foundries on first article approval
- Ability to work on-site in Kutztown, PA, or be based in Los Angeles and travel to Kutztown up to 25% of the time
- U.S. citizen or national, lawful permanent resident, or eligible to obtain ITAR authorizations from the U.S. Department of State
DESIRABLE:
- Experience with solidification simulation software (MAGMASOFT, ProCAST, FLOW-3D CAST)
- Experience with HY-80, HY-100, or other high-yield steel castings for naval programs
- Experience with Monel, nickel-aluminum bronze, stainless steel, or other difficult alloys
- Experience with dissimilar-metal joints and cladded surfaces
- Knowledge of casting weld repair and weld qualification (PQR/WPS)
- Familiarity with NAVSEA casting inspection requirements (T9074)
- Experience standing up a new cell, foundry, or factory while product was still in development
