Metallurgical Engineer

Job description

About the job Role: Metallurgical Engineer - High-Temperature Materials & Coatings About Manastu Manastu Space is a Space Safety and Logistics company focused on making space safe, sustainable, and accessible . We develop technologies to address critical challenges such as space debris mitigation and green propulsion , enabling safer satellite operations, and long-term sustainability of the space ecosystem. Our work sits at the intersection of advanced engineering, applied research, and mission-critical systems , requiring deep technical capability and long-term thinking. Website: https://www.manastuspace.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/manastu-space/ Email: careers@manastuspace.com About the Role We are looking for a Metallurgical Engineer to lead the development of high-temperature materials and protective coatings for our green monopropellant thruster. The hot section of the engine runs in a severe, chemically aggressive gas environment, and engine life is largely decided by how well its materials survive it. This is a hands-on research and development role: you will define the candidates, develop the coating formulation and process, build the test capability needed to evaluate them, carry the chosen solution through to qualified hardware, and own the material specification that design, manufacturing and test work to. One note on the environment. Our exhaust is predominantly superheated steam rather than dry air. Steam degrades high-temperature materials by mechanisms that conventional air-oxidation testing does not capture, so experience with steam, water-vapour or hydrothermal environments is highly valued here — including from adjacent industries such as power generation, nuclear steam systems or ceramic-matrix-composite programmes. If your high-temperature experience is from dry air, we would still like to hear from you, provided you understand why the distinction matters. Key Responsibilities Materials and coating development • Identify, screen and down-select high-temperature materials and protective coatings for the thruster nozzle, combustion chamber, liner and catalyst bed hardware. • Develop coating formulations and application processes — aluminising, PVD, CVD, plasma or thermal spray, slurry and sol-gel — into repeatable, documented procedures. • Select and qualify alloys for structural and pressure-bearing components, and generate the temperature-dependent material data the design team needs for structural and thermal analysis. High-temperature material selection • Evaluate and select superalloys, refractory metals and alloys, and ceramic or ceramic-matrix-composite candidates for hot-section hardware — screened on temperature capability, oxidation and steam resistance, thermal expansion match and manufacturability. • Assess coating–substrate compatibility, including interdiffusion, thermal expansion mismatch and phase stability across the expected service envelope. • Maintain a documented trade-off basis for each material selection so that later design or duty-cycle changes can be re-assessed quickly. Testing and evaluation • Design and run experiments covering oxidation, steam and hydrothermal degradation, erosion, thermal cycling, creep and mechanical performance at temperature. • Establish the characterization protocol for coated and uncoated components and build the correlation between measured material properties and in-service behavior. • Build and validate predictive models of material oxidation, steam attack and erosion — recession and mass-change kinetics, coating consumption and spallation life — and use them to extrapolate coupon data to component life and duty cycle. • Specify, commission and validate new laboratory and test-rig capability, including instrumentation and measurement uncertainty. Some of this does not exist in-house yet, and you will build it. Manufacturing and integration • Ensure coating application does not compromise component dimensions, surface finish or performance, and agree with the machining and coating sequence with design and manufacturing. • Support welding and joining development, including weld procedure qualification and non-destructive inspection of pressure-bearing hardware. • Support hot-fire and component test campaigns with pre- and post-test inspection, sectioning and metallography, and carry out root cause analysis and FMECA on tested hardware. Documentation, suppliers and team • Own the material and coating specifications as a controlled document and maintain material traceability from supplier certification through to incoming inspection of flight hardware. • Identify, qualify and manage coating vendors, external laboratories, and research partners. • Write clear technical reports, keep accurate experimental records, and mentor junior engineers and technicians. Educational Qualifications • M.Tech / M.E. / M.Sc. (Engg.) or Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, or Physical Metallurgy. • Also considered: Ceramic Engineering, Surface Engineering, Corrosion Science and Engineering, Materials Chemistry, or Applied Physics with a materials specialisation. • A Mechanical or Chemical Engineering background will be considered only where the postgraduate research and subsequent work has been squarely in high-temperature materials, coatings or surface engineering. An undergraduate degree in Metallurgical Engineering, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Ceramic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or Chemical Engineering is expected alongside the above. Experience Required • Ph.D. route — no minimum industry experience. A doctorate on high-temperature coatings, oxidation, surface degradation or a closely related topic already represents several years of the work this role does daily. Recent and about-to-submit graduates are encourage