Principal Systems Engineer - Architect the Equipment and Factory Roadmap for a Fast-Scaling Metal Casting Startup
Billerica, MA | On-site
Opportunity Summary
An early-stage advanced manufacturing company is rebuilding how critical metal castings are produced in the U.S., pairing additive manufacturing and custom software with a modern foundry to cut lead times from months to weeks for aerospace, defense, and energy customers.
This is a foundational technical leadership role reporting directly to the CEO. You will own the design, development, and deployment of the core manufacturing equipment across every process step, and your decisions will set the company's cost curve, throughput, automation strategy, and the layout of future facilities. The role is expected to grow into leading an in-house equipment and mechanical engineering team.
About Us
We are an early-stage, well-capitalized advanced manufacturing startup rebuilding domestic metal casting capacity for aerospace, defense, and energy customers. Backed by leading venture firms and strategic aerospace and defense investors, the company has a production foundry up and running, is shipping parts to customers, and plans to bring additional foundries online as demand grows. The founding team comes from top commercial space and metal additive manufacturing companies, and every employee works on-site, close to the physical process.
Job Duties
- Define and communicate the equipment and mechanical systems roadmap for current and future foundries
- Architect first-of-kind manufacturing equipment end to end, from concept through commissioning and production
- Make build vs. buy calls grounded in physics, economics, scalability, and long-term roadmap fit
- Work hand in hand with process engineering, turning process needs into hardware and using equipment capability to unlock new process windows
- Serve as the systems engineer across coupled mechanical, thermal, fluid, controls, materials, and process domains, tracking requirements and interfaces
- Run fast build, test, and learn cycles to get working hardware into production on short timelines
- Design equipment architectures for automation, reliability, maintainability, and efficient facility scale-out
- Get hands-on to design, assemble, and troubleshoot critical hardware when schedules demand it
- Establish internal standards for equipment development, CAD practices, documentation, and commissioning
- Explain complex multidisciplinary tradeoffs clearly to engineers and executive leadership
- Recruit, mentor, and eventually lead a growing mechanical and equipment engineering team
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a closely related field
- 5+ years of experience designing and building complex equipment or vehicle systems
- Strong CAD, GD&T, and DFM skills
- Deep first-principles command of thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, dynamics, and machine design
- Working knowledge of control systems, basic programming, and materials behavior across metals, polymers, and ceramics
- Experience leading stage-gated systems engineering design reviews on accelerated startup timelines
- Strong physical intuition and a habit of challenging assumptions and requirements
- Comfortable with high ownership and ambiguity in a fast-moving environment
- U.S. person status (U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident) required under ITAR
Preferred Experience
- Systems that operate at extreme temperatures, high pressure, or high vacuum, or that handle molten, corrosive, or cryogenic fluids
- Background in manufacturing equipment, or aerospace hardware such as propulsion, turbomachinery, vacuum systems, or flight structures
- Experience scaling hardware for throughput, reliability, and cost
- Proven ability to move from concept to working hardware quickly
- Use of meshing and simulation tools to validate equipment designs
- Knowledge of fracture mechanics, surface engineering, or wetting behavior
Why Join Us
- Report directly to the CEO and shape the technical roadmap from the ground floor
- Directly influence long-term economics, scalability, and facility architecture
- Build and lead the equipment engineering function as the company grows
- Take on some of the hardest problems in advanced manufacturing and industrial automation
- Early-employee equity with real upside as the company expands from one foundry to many
- Fast career growth: early hires are expected to step into technical leadership as the team scales
- Small, hands-on team with no bureaucracy, where decisions happen in days rather than quarters
- A mission that matters: rebuilding domestic production of castings used in aircraft engines, defense systems, and energy infrastructure
- Competitive base salary
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage
- 401(k) plan
- Unlimited PTO
Compensation Details
$170,000 - $200,000 + equity
ITAR Requirement
This position requires access to technical data controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Applicants must be U.S. persons (U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents). Visa sponsorship is not available.
