Lead Additive Manufacturing Engineer

Job description

About Arcturus Arcturus is creating a new wire technology stack that uses carbon nanomaterials to overcome the materials limitations of metals where performance breaks down, at real operating temperatures. Our technology is designed to significantly improve the performance of electric motors for drones and robotics, heat sinks, and ultimately the entire energy grid. Why you should join us This is a ground-floor opportunity to help build something that has never been done before. You would join as a founding engineer and become Arcturus’ first additive manufacturing engineer, with the chance to define the company’s metal printing strategy from the beginning. You will work directly with the Founder and CEO to shape the technical direction of our manufacturing platform and help build a category-defining materials company from scratch. Purpose We are seeking a Lead Additive Manufacturing Engineer who can own the development of Arcturus’ metal printing platform across LPBF and DED-based approaches, starting with aluminum and copper systems infused with carbon nanomaterials like graphene and carbon nanotubes. This person should be deeply fluent in how metal additive systems actually work, from lasers and optics to melt pool behavior, thermal history, shielding environments, material delivery, and process control, and be able to translate that knowledge into repeatable, scalable manufacturing capability. THE ROLE This role reports directly to the CEO What you’ll do - Own Arcturus’ additive manufacturing roadmap across LPBF and DED workflows for infused metal parts and wire - Define and optimize print processes for copper and aluminum, including parameter development, thermal management, build strategy, and system-level tradeoffs - Establish process windows that preserve conductivity, mechanical integrity, and nanomaterial performance through fabrication - Serve as the company’s internal expert on metal AM process physics, machine behavior, lasers, and print quality - Lead design-for-additive-manufacturing decisions, including build orientation, support strategy, scan strategy, and geometry tradeoffs that affect printability and final part performance - Diagnose and solve print failures including porosity, cracking, distortion, poor bonding, and geometry drift - Build qualification plans, process documentation, and acceptance criteria for repeatable development and future scale-up - Define feedstock, shielding gas, and contamination-control practices that preserve material quality and process repeatability - Use DOE, data analysis, and structured root-cause methods to optimize process windows and improve yield, repeatability, throughput, and cost - Partner closely with nanomaterials, characterization, mechanical, and product engineering to connect print process to final conductor performance - Contribute to invention disclosures, patent strategy, and internal technical documentation with a high bar for rigor and clarity Basic qualifications - MS, or PhD in metallurgical engineering, mechanical engineering, materials science, manufacturing engineering, welding engineering, physics, or a related field - 8+ years of hands-on experience in metal additive manufacturing, advanced process development, or closely related manufacturing systems - Deep expertise in metal AM processes, especially LPBF and ideally DED or laser-based directed energy systems - Strong understanding of lasers, optics, melt pool physics, heat transfer, solidification, residual stress, and metallurgical process-structure-property relationships - Demonstrated experience developing, optimizing, troubleshooting, and scaling AM processes in real hardware environments - Strong scientific and technical writing skills, including clear documentation of process development, test plans, specifications, and invention disclosures Preferred qualifications - Experience printing aluminum and/or copper alloys - Experience with machine-level AM development, including motion systems, powder handling, feedstock delivery, sensing, or controls - Experience qualifying and scaling AM hardware in a high-performance manufacturing environment - Familiarity with CAD and AM build preparation tools, including slicing, scan strategy setup, support generation, and print simulation workflows - Familiarity with metal matrix composites or other non-standard AM material systems What we offer - Competitive cash compensation and meaningful equity - Direct technical ownership over a core manufacturing platform - The chance to define the playbook for nanomaterial-enhanced metal additive manufacturing - Relocation support for employees moving from outside the Los Angeles area