Vulcan Elements is manufacturing American rare-earth permanent magnets for a secure, resilient future. With a focus on national security and economic resiliency, we serve critical industries such as defense, aerospace, and automotive powering a high-technology future. Vulcan Elements is building a team of ambitious professionals committed to Mission Focus, Technical Excellence and Transparency.
Responsibilities
- Own and optimize the powder metallurgy pipeline, including hydrogen decrepitation, jet milling, pressing and compaction, vacuum sintering, and post-sinter heat treatments.
- Correlate process variables to magnetic properties, microstructure, and part quality.
- Lead root-cause failure analyses for sample defects and implement corrective actions.
- Transition new alloy compositions from pilot scale to robust, high-volume production.
- Define technical specifications and partner with Manufacturing team for selection and commissioning of next-generation manufacturing equipment.
Responsibilities and tasks outlined are not exhaustive and may change as determined by the needs of the business.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Ph.D. in Materials Science, Metallurgical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- 8+ years of hands‑on engineering experience in powder metallurgy processing (industrial manufacturing setting preferred).
- Experience with reactive metal powder processing, protective inert atmospheres , vacuum thermal processing, and advanced sintering kinetics.
- Experience with materials characterization and analytical techniques such as SEM, XRD, TGA/DSC
- Strong experience in design of experiments, statistical processing, and leading research efforts
Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities.
Preferred Qualifications
- Direct experience in the manufacturing of sintered NdFeB permanent magnets and grain boundary diffusion processes.
- Strong proficiency in evaluating magnetic materials properties and interpreting microstructural data.
- Experience utilizing data analysis tools (such as Python, MATLAB, or JMP) to analyze manufacturing quality datasets or automate performance mapping.
- Familiarity with ISO 9001 or IATF 16949 quality management standards.