Job Summary Required Qualifications and Skills
We are seeking a Material Scientist for a direct hire, onsite opportunity in Oxnard, CA, supporting advanced aerospace and defense manufacturing applications. This role focuses on the development, evaluation, and optimization of materials used in critical actuation systems, including Cartridge Actuated Devices and Propellant Actuated Devices.
This is an excellent opportunity to join a highly technical environment where innovation, safety, quality, and reliability are central to the work. The Material Scientist will collaborate with engineering, manufacturing, quality, suppliers, and customers to support mission-critical, flight-critical, and life-critical aerospace systems.
The ideal candidate will enjoy hands-on materials development, complex technical problem-solving, cross-functional teamwork, and contributing to products where performance and precision matter. This environment offers strong leadership, experienced technical teams, long-term stability, and the opportunity to contribute across the full product lifecycle.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and support materials development activities for aerospace and defense actuation applications, including CAD and PAD systems.
- Evaluate, characterize, and optimize energetic materials, propellants, initiators, pyrotechnics, and related components.
- Perform mechanical, thermal, and materials analysis, interpret test data, and document technical findings.
- Conduct failure analysis and recommend corrective actions, product improvements, and process enhancements.
- Support qualification and validation testing for materials, components, and manufacturing processes.
- Collaborate with engineering, manufacturing, quality, suppliers, and customers to resolve technical challenges and ensure compliance with aerospace standards.
Compensation and Benefits
- Salary range: $111,795 to $186,325 per year.
- Job type: Direct hire.
- Location: Oxnard, CA.
- Work arrangement: Onsite.
- Benefits include medical, dental, vision, life insurance, health savings account, flexible spending account, paid time off, vacation, snack and drink room, employee discounts, employee profit share program, 401(k), and employee stock purchase program.
- Lead materials development and optimization for energetic materials used in aerospace actuation systems.
- Support qualification, validation, failure analysis, and technical documentation for materials and components.
- Collaborate with engineering, manufacturing, quality, suppliers, and customers throughout the product lifecycle.
- Must meet ITAR requirements.
- Must pass background and drug screening requirements.
- Master’s degree in Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, or a related technical discipline.
- Approximately 5 to 10 years of experience in aerospace design and manufacturing.
- Experience serving as a technical lead on engineering projects from proposal through production.
- Knowledge of aerospace design, manufacturing, qualification, and product lifecycle processes.
- Familiarity with FAA requirements and AS9100 quality management systems.
- Experience with SolidWorks or similar CAD software.
- Strong understanding of materials testing, mechanical analysis, thermal analysis, and test data interpretation.
- Experience conducting failure analysis and developing corrective action recommendations.
- Knowledge of machining, manufacturing practices, stress analysis, and Finite Element Analysis.
- Strong technical documentation, written communication, and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to work effectively with suppliers, customers, engineering, manufacturing, quality, and internal cross-functional teams.
- Hands-on approach to engineering, materials development, troubleshooting, and process improvement.
- Ability to mentor and provide technical guidance to other team members as needed.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience working with energetic materials, pyrotechnics, propellants, initiators, CAD/PAD devices, or aerospace actuation systems.
- Experience supporting materials and components used in mission-critical, flight-critical, or life-critical aerospace applications.
- Experience working within product lifecycle management systems.
- Demonstrated ability to improve material performance, manufacturability, reliability, safety, and cost effectiveness.
Equal Opportunity Employer / Disabled / Protected Veterans
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For temporary assignments lasting 13 weeks or longer, AppleOne is pleased to offer major medical, dental, vision, 401k and any statutory sick pay where required.
We are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact your staffing representative who will reach out to our HR team.
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We also consider for employment qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements, including, if applicable, the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance. Pursuant to applicable state and municipal Fair Chance Laws and Ordinances, we will consider for employment-qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, including, if applicable, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. For Los Angeles, CA applicants: Qualified applications with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.