Principal Welding Engineer

Compensation: $190,000 - $225,000 / year Department: Manufacturing Location: Redondo Beach Description As a Principal Weld Engineer at Impulse, you will help develop, qualify and optimize welding designs and processes with laser beam, gas tungsten arc welding, friction stir welding, and orbital tube welding. This role will be integral to performing weld developments on Helios' main structural tank, Deneb’s thrust chamber, preburner assemblies, and valve components across all of our vehicles. The welding engineer in this role will interface daily with design and manufacturing engineers to make welding judgment calls and improvements and will enforce standardized practices and procedures on multiple welded assemblies.

Helios is Impulse's new vehicle, a 3rd stage/kick stage. Launching in 2026, it is designed to take satellites & payloads to GEO for 1/3rd of today's current cost. Deneb is Impulse’s 15k lb thrust lox methane staged combustion engine.

Responsibilities Develop, optimize, and qualify weld processes and parameters for multiple welding processes (laser beam welding, friction stir welding, gas tungsten arc welding, orbital tube welding). Work closely with design, tooling, automation, and development engineers to improve welded designs for manufacturing. Develop and implement improved process control using test and NDE results as feedback loop.

Support production operations on full scale welded assemblies, providing direction to manufacturing engineers and welders on correct techniques in a fast paced manufacturing environment. Support on-site manufacturing and development of Helios tank, Deneb engine weldments, and Mira components. Set up welding qualification test campaigns and interpret mechanical testing and NDE results.

Work closely with NDE personnel to interpret weld quality on development and flight hardware and develop and implement innovative state‑of‑the‑art NDE techniques. Set up automated welding solutions to drive process consistency. Scope out new welding technologies that may improve rate, quality, and efficiency.

Support design, manufacturing, and materials engineering with root cause analysis. Minimum Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline or related field. 10+ years of hands‑on fabrication, manufacturing, or testing experience of welded assemblies. Preferred Skills and Experience Master’s degree in welding engineering or related technical program. 8+ years of demonstrated hands‑on welding experience of aluminum, nickel‑based, stainless steel, titanium, and copper alloys. 8+ years of demonstrated experience with brazing, joining, and metallographic interpretation.

Fundamental understanding of welding processes including laser beam, friction stir, gas tungsten arc, gas metal arc, electron beam, plasma arc, and resistance welding. Robot programming experience for automated welding solutions. Tooling design experience for welded assemblies to reduce part distortion and improve part consistency.

Understanding of weld strength testing methodologies, standards, and data acquisition systems (ASTM E8, E399, E740, ISO 15653, AWS D17.X, AWS C7.X, thermocouples, strain gages). Experience with root cause analysis and corrective actions including optical and SEM fractography/metallography, hardness, chemical analysis, and mechanical testing. Self‑motivated, driven and high attention to detail.

Additional Information Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case‑by‑case basis and may vary based on job‑related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, full‑time hires may also be eligible for long‑term incentives in the form of stock options and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as a 401(k) retirement plan.

Impulse Space’s spacecraft manufacturing business is subject to U.S. export regulations including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This position requires applicants to be either U.S. Persons or persons eligible to obtain an export license from the U.S.

Departments of State, Commerce, or other applicable U.S. government agencies. Learn more about the ITAR here. Impulse Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Impulse Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status. #J-18808-Ljbffr