Manufacturing Engineer - Production

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.

As a Manufacturing Engineer, you will contribute to the full lifecycle of a major manufacturing expansion — from design and equipment specification through installation, commissioning, production startup, and scale‑up to full capacity. You will be responsible for a process step, translating pilot-line processes into full-scale, stable, and repeatable production systems. This is a high impact, high-ownership role.

Responsibilities

• Own equipment design/requirements, vendor performance and schedule, commissioning activities, process development, and production qualification for a major production process (alloy production, casting, powder production, pressing, sintering, machining, coating, testing, packaging, etc)


• Develop and optimize manufacturing processes to improve throughput, quality, and equipment reliability.


• Create and maintain process documentation, including SOPs, work instructions, control plans, and process flow diagrams.


• Manage technical schedules, budgets, and deliverables aligned with company milestones and customer commitments


• Provide hands‑on support during production startup, helping stabilize processes and eliminate early bottlenecks.


• Develop and innovate new processes and equipment strategies (collaborating with R&D) to implement in future production lines, pushing Vulcan to achieve best-in-class magnet manufacturing


• Partner with maintenance and operations teams to improve equipment uptime and reduce process variation.


• Ensure compliance with safety, environmental, and quality standards across all process activities.

Responsibilities and tasks outlined are not exhaustive and may change as determined by the needs of the business

Qualifications

• 3+ years in manufacturing or process engineering, ideally within powder metallurgy, advanced materials, rare-earth magnet manufacturing, automotive, battery, or similar high volume manufacturing environments


• Bachelors Degree in Materials Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related engineering discipline


• High-ownership mentality, you observe, orient, decide and act alongside your team and key stakeholders


• Strong analytical, data-driven problem-solving skills and ability to drive accountability and results under tight timelines


• Proficiency with CAD tools, data analysis software, and process modeling tools.

Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with powder metal compaction, sintering, machining, or finishing processes.


• Familiarity with automation, robotics, or PLC‑based systems.


• Exposure to PFMEA, control plans, and advanced quality tools.


• Six Sigma Green Belt, Lean certification, or similar