About Varda

Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-Series vehicles are built, designed, and operated by Varda in-house, including the pharmaceutical processing payloads, the capsules, the C-PICA heat shields, and the satellite buses.

From life-saving pharmaceuticals to more powerful fiber optics, there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. Varda is accelerating innovation in the orbital economy by creating both the products and infrastructure needed so space can directly benefit life on Earth. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind.

Our team is uniquely suited to accomplishing this goal, with leadership and staff comprised of veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies and Silicon Valley. Varda was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov with significant backing from world class investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst, and Also Capital.

Varda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, where we have offices and a production facility where our vehicles, equipment, and materials are built, integrated, and tested. Varda also has offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL.

Join Varda, and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.

About This Role

As a Senior Materials and Process Engineer at Varda, you will have the opportunity to use your deep technical expertise to define and qualify the materials and special processes behind our reentry vehicles as we scale from a few bespoke builds to many consistent, concurrent vehicles. This role owns the development, qualification, and control of processes for flight hardware, including ablative and thermal protection systems (TPS), coatings, polymers, composites, adhesives, wet chemical processing, corrosion control, and metallic structures. The Senior Materials and Process Engineer authors the specifications, process qualification records, and control plans that Varda and its suppliers build to, leads RCCAs, MRB, and failure investigations for material and process non-conformances, and uses statistical methods to define process windows and acceptance criteria. You will make sound decisions quickly without established infrastructure, influence material decisions across teams, and mentor and help hire engineers. Materials and Process Engineers are a vital part of increasing Varda's build cadence, working directly with design engineers, technicians, and suppliers across the full range of materials and processes required to manufacture our vehicles. The focus of the job is to drive incremental improvement in the quality and repeatability of every vehicle Varda produces.

Responsibilities

Develop, qualify, and maintain special processes for flight hardware, including ablative and thermal protection systems (TPS), coatings, polymers, composites, adhesives, and processes applicable to metallic structures
Develop and control wet chemical processes (cleaning, etching, passivation, conversion coating and similar).
Implement corrosion prevention and control practices, and assess chemical compatibility between materials, process fluids, and service environments
Design experiments, methodologies, and pathfinder hardware to de-risk processes, and characterize materials and processes through mechanical, thermal, chemical, and microstructural testing, and use statistical methods to define process windows
Define tooling, fixture, test equipment, cleanliness, contamination control, and material handling requirements for assigned processes and flight hardware
Develop and maintain Special Process Specifications, Process Qualification and Validation Records and Control Plans
Lead and contribute to RCCAs, MRB and failure review boards for material and process non-conformances, including corrosion, surface contamination, defects found in NDE, test, or inspection, failure analysis (fractography, metallography, SEM/EDS, chemical analysis) in-house or through partner labs.