Lead Process Engineer

LEAD PROCESS ENGINEER Los Angeles, CA (in-person) ABOUT ARCTURUS Arcturus is creating a new wire technology stack that uses carbon nanomaterials to overcome the materials limitations of metals where performance breaks down, at real operating temperatures. Our technology is designed to significantly improve the performance of electric motors for drones and robotics, heat sinks, and ultimately the entire energy grid. At its core, Arcturus is developing a new class of carbon nanomaterial-infused metal matrix composites for high-performance conductor applications. WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN US This is a ground-floor opportunity to help build something that has never been done before. You would join as a founding engineer and become Arcturus’ first processing engineer, with the chance to define the company’s strategy from the beginning. As the founding process engineer, you’ll work directly with the founder/CEO to shape the technical direction of the company, translate scientific insight into real product performance, and help build a category-defining materials platform from scratch. PURPOSE We are seeking a Lead Processing Engineer who can own the end-to-end process flow that turns early prototypes into reliable, repeatable, and scalable conductor products. This is a hands-on leadership role spanning feedstock preparation, build recipes, carbon infusion or growth steps, post-processing, QA controls, documentation, and pilot readiness. THE ROLE THIS ROLE REPORTS DIRECTLY TO THE CEO End-to-end process ownership - Own Arcturus’ R&D-to-pilot process flow, from feedstock handling and preparation through LPBF/DED processing, carbon infusion or growth steps, post-processing, finishing, inspection, and sample release - Translate early technical learnings into repeatable process recipes, standard work, process flow diagrams, and controlled operating procedures - Define critical process parameters and critical quality attributes across each step of the conductor manufacturing flow - Establish pragmatic process controls that preserve electrical conductivity, thermal performance, mechanical integrity, and nanomaterial stability - Partner with additive manufacturing and nanomaterials leads to ensure each process step is technically sound, measurable, and scalable Process development and optimization - Build and run a disciplined design of experiments (DOE) cadence to expand process windows, improve repeatability, increase yield, and reduce cycle time - Develop process maps that connect feedstock, atmosphere, laser parameters, thermal history, growth or infusion conditions, and post-processing to final material performance - Identify bottlenecks, failure modes, and sources of variation, then drive practical solutions that improve consistency and throughput - Use data analysis, structured root-cause methods, and hands-on experimentation to troubleshoot failed builds, inconsistent samples, or missed performance targets - Help decide when a process is ready to move from exploratory R&D to controlled development and eventually pilot production Quality, documentation, and pilot readiness - Build startup-appropriate quality systems, including control plans, lot tracking, travelers, acceptance criteria, test plans, and traceable build records - Write and maintain process specifications, work instructions, checklists, and documentation that technicians and engineers can actually use - Define sample release criteria for internal testing, third-party validation, customer demos, and pilot programs - Support process qualification plans for conductor materials, printed parts, and wire forms as Arcturus moves toward external validation - Track process health metrics such as yield, repeatability, build success rate, cycle time, material usage, and throughput Cross-functional leadership - Partner closely with nanomaterials, additive manufacturing, characterization, mechanical, and product engineering to tie process variables to conductivity, thermal performance, mec