Applications Engineer

About the company

Hadrian is a defense tech company building automated manufacturing facilities to mass-produce parts for military vehicles.

About this role

HADRIAN - MANUFACTURING THE FUTURE Hadrian is building autonomous factories to reindustrialize America. By combining AI, advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we help aerospace and defense companies build rockets, satellites, aircraft, ships, and other mission-critical systems up to 10x faster and at significantly lower cost. Following our $1.37B Series D at a $7.87B valuation, Hadrian is rapidly expanding our manufacturing footprint, launching new capabilities across welding, casting, forging, electronics, additive manufacturing, and more, while scaling our Factory-as-a-Service platform to transform how critical products are built. Backed by leading investors including JPMorgan Chase, Valor Equity Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, 137 Ventures, Lux Capital, T. Rowe Price, and Morgan Stanley, we’re building the future of American manufacturing—and looking for exceptional people to help make it happen. If you’re ready to take on the most challenging and rewarding work of your career while helping create American manufacturing jobs for generations to come, you’re exactly who we’re looking for. THE ROLE Hadrian's Applications Engineering team develops 0-1 machining solutions to supercharge the throughput and capabilities of our Factory. The team focuses on developing novel solutions for CNC programming, workholding, fixturing, tooling, process control, new materials, and machining capabilities. We are looking for an Applications Engineer to execute our Machining roadmap to scale Hadrian to be multi-factory across the US. You will work closely with Applications Engineering, CAM Operations, Software Engineering, and Robotics to push the boundaries of machining at scale and are looking to add a curious and self-motivated expert to join our already world class team. CURRENT TECHNICAL CHALLENGES - Autonomous manufacturing workflows that run parts with minimal operator intervention - Automated metrology, in-process inspection, and closed-loop process control - Process standards that run across different machine platforms and controllers - Manufacturing observability and diagnostics: detecting tool wear, process drift, and failures early enough to recover automatically - Lights-out production of complex aerospace components - First-part introduction of high-risk, high-complexity components, new part families, and new materials, including high-temp aerospace alloys - Reducing the engineering effort required to launch a new part, and converting successful one-off processes into reusable production standards - Deploying proven capabilities from our Los Angeles factory to Factory 3 in Mesa, Arizona WHAT YOU'LL DO - Develop manufacturing processes for complex aerospace and defense components, including machining strategy, tooling, workholding, probing, and inspection - Take 0-1 New Product Introduction parts from print to production for new customers, new materials, and new part families - Build the automation, process control, and software workflows that let production run without constant engineering attention - Set machine, tooling, and process standards adopted across Hadrian factories - Diagnose high-impact production failures across process, equipment, software, and operational causes, then change the standard so the failure stays fixed - Advise as a subject matter expert on tooling, machine selection, workholding, and process engineering across the factory, and contribute that domain knowledge to the software that automates CAM programming - Work with CAM, CNC Controls, Robotics, Software, Quality, and Operations to integrate manufacturing systems into production - Support factory launches, machine bring-up, and production stabilization YOUR FIRST 12 MONTHS Focus areas differ across the team. After a year, engineers in this role can typically point to results like: - New manufacturing capabilities shipped into production - A standard adopted across multiple machines, cells, or factories - A previously manual engineering or production workflow that now runs automated - Measurable reductions in the engineering time required to launch new parts - Throughput, quality, or reliability improvements on production cells - A contribution to a factory launch or a major capability deployment WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR - A track record of solving difficult manufacturing problems and building technical systems that hold up in production - Depth in one or two of these areas, with the judgment to work across the rest: machining, manufacturing engineering, automation, robotics, metrology, simulation, tooling, or software for manufacturing - Working knowledge of machining fundamentals, including tooling, workholding, GD&T, inspection, and process validation - The ability to trace a problem across process, equipment, software, and operational causes - Clear written and verbal communication with machinists, engineers, and factory leadership WHAT WILL SET YOU APART - Multi-axis CNC machining, mill-turn, or production experience with titanium and Inconel - CAM programming in hyperMILL, NX, Mastercam, or similar platforms - Macro programming on Heidenhain or Fanuc controllers - Automated metrology, in-process inspection, statistical process control, load monitoring, or tool life monitoring - Palletized automation, robotic machine tending, or lights-out production - Software and data skills applied to manufacturing, such as Python, version control, and production data analysis - Simulation and modeling, such as cutting dynamics, tap testing, or FEA - Experience in aerospace, defense, semiconductor, medical, energy, or similarly demanding environments - Machines, tools, software, or businesses you built on your own initiative COMPENSATION For this role, the target salary range is $130,000 - $220,000 (actual range may vary based on experience).  This is the lowest to highes