---
title: 'Principal Additive Manufacturing Engineer at Arcturus'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/principal-additive-manufacturing-engineer-arcturus-los-angeles-25kznj0t17jd'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-13'
---

# Principal Additive Manufacturing Engineer at Arcturus

- **Company:** Arcturus
- **Location:** Los Angeles, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-08-10
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-13
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/arcturus/8742872b-4b5c-4fe5-9ea9-1b864059c7bc

## Job description

Principal Additive Manufacturing 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.

## 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 an early principal technical hire and help define how Arcturus turns metal additive manufacturing into a core company capability. This is a high-ownership individual contributor role for someone who wants to solve hard manufacturing problems, mentor others, and help build a first-of-its-kind materials platform from the ground up.

Purpose We are seeking a Principal Additive Manufacturing Engineer who can own major AM process development workstreams across LPBF, DED, and related metal processing methods. This person will help develop, troubleshoot, and scale additive manufacturing processes for carbon nanomaterial-infused aluminum and copper systems, translating ambiguous technical goals into repeatable process windows, hardware decisions, and measurable material performance.

## The role

This role will work closely with Arcturus’ CEO.

## What you’ll do

- Own major additive manufacturing workstreams across LPBF, DED, and related metal processing approaches for infused metal parts and wire
- Develop process windows for aluminum and copper systems that preserve conductivity, mechanical integrity, and carbon nanomaterial performance through fabrication
- Lead parameter development, build strategy, scan strategy, thermal management, and machine/process troubleshooting
- Serve as a senior technical voice on metal AM process physics, melt pool behavior, lasers, machine behavior, powder/feedstock handling, and print quality
- Lead design-for-additive-manufacturing decisions, including build orientation, support strategy, geometry tradeoffs, distortion risk, and downstream process readiness
- Diagnose and resolve print failures including porosity, cracking, distortion, poor bonding, inconsistent density, geometry drift, and surface quality issues
- Build process maps that connect machine inputs, feedstock, atmosphere, thermal history, and post-processing to material outcomes
- Partner with nanomaterials, process, characterization, mechanical, and product engineering to connect print process to final conductor performance
- Develop qualification plans, build records, process documentation, and acceptance criteria for repeatable development and future scale-up
- Use DOE, data analysis, and structured root-cause methods to improve yield, repeatability, throughput, and cost
- Mentor junior engineers, interns, and technicians as the AM team grows
- Contribute to invention disclosures, patent strategy, and internal technical documentation with a high bar for rigor and clarity

## Basic qualifications

- BS, MS, or PhD in mechanical engineering, materials science, manufacturing engineering, welding engineering, metallurgical engineering, physics, or a related field
- 5+ years of hands-on experience in additive manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, metal processing, powder metallurgy, laser processing, welding, or a closely related field
- Strong experience with metal AM processes such as LPBF, DED, WAAM, EBAM, cold spray, powder metallurgy, or related metal processing methods
- Strong understanding of melt pool physics, heat transfer, solidification, residual stress, metallurgical behavior, and process-structure-property relationships
- Demonstrated experience developing, optimizing, troubleshooting, and documenting manufacturing or AM processes in real hardware environments
- Ability to lead technical workstreams, mentor others, and drive ambiguous problems toward clear technical decisions
- Strong scientific and technical writing skills, including process documentation, test plans, specifications, and invention disclosures

## Preferred qualifications

- Deep experience with LPBF and/or DED process development
- Experience printing or processing aluminum and/or copper alloys
- Experience with metal matrix composites, unusual feedstocks, carbon nanomaterial-infused metals, or other non-standard AM material systems
- Experience with machine-level AM development, including lasers, optics, motion systems, shielding gas, powder handling, feedstock delivery, sensing, or controls
- Familiarity with AM build preparation tools, CAD, slicing, support generation, scan strategy setup, and print simulation workflows
- Experience qualifying and scaling AM processes in aerospace, automotive, energy, or another high-performance manufacturing environment
- Experience working in a startup or first-of-its-kind manufacturing environment

## What we offer

- Competitive cash compensation and meaningful equity
- Direct technical ownership over a core manufacturing platform
- The chance to define the playbook for nanomaterial-enhanced metal additive manufacturing
- Relocation support for employees moving from outside the Los Angeles area

## About Arcturus

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Infusing carbon nanomaterials into metals to create a new class of electrical conductors that break past the limits of conductivity and strength at high temperatures.
- **Entity Type**: Private (no public funding rounds disclosed; received a 1517 Flux Capacitor Fellowship in 2024)
- **Headquarters**: Los Angeles, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2005 (per Built In)
- **Founders**: Amir Mashal (Founder & CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Advanced materials / manufacturing – specifically electrical conductor technology for energy transmission, electric vehicles, drones, robotics, data centers, and grid infrastructure.
- **Target customers**: B2B / enterprise – utilities, aerospace, automotive, and industrial hardware companies.
- **Mission or purpose**: Reinvent the conductor to modernize the energy grid, lower electrification costs, and enable next‑generation electric motors.

## Products & Services
- **Carbon Nanomaterial‑Infused Metal Conductors**: A proprietary technology stack that embeds carbon nanomaterials into metals to maintain high conductivity at extreme temperatures, enabling lighter, stronger, and more efficient wires for power transmission, motors, and high‑performance electronics.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available
- **Key Metric**: 31 total employees (Built In); 9 open job postings as of June 2026 (JobPin)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: 1517 Fund (awarded the Flux Capacitor Fellowship in June 2024)
- **Growth Signals**: Actively scaling the engineering team (8–9 roles in research, process engineering, operations); hybrid/remote options; expanding from laboratory prototype toward industrial‑level production.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proprietary carbon nanomaterial‑metal infusion** – a difficult‑to‑replicate materials‑science breakthrough that addresses the fundamental limits of traditional copper and aluminum conductors at high temperatures.
- **Integrated approach** solving materials chemistry, manufacturing scale‑up, and product design simultaneously, creating a moat around both the know‑how and the process.

## Strategic Focus
- **Industrial scale‑up**: Proving the manufacturing process at industrial volume while maintaining material properties.
- **Market entry**: Targeting the most demanding segments first – grid transmission, electric aviation, robotics, and high‑performance data center power delivery.

## Why Work Here
- Hands‑on, garage‑style engineering culture focused on solving one of the hardest problems in materials science.
- Hybrid work model (combination of remote and on‑site) with offices in Los Angeles and additional locations per Built In.
- Opportunity to be a founding‑stage engineer in a company that has already demonstrated proof of concept and is now scaling toward production.
- Strong emphasis on autonomy and impact: “If you’re an engineer reading this and that didn’t slow you down, we want to meet you.”

## Sources
1. [arcturus.io](https://www.arcturus.io/)
2. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/arcturus-1)
3. [jobpin.com](https://jobpin.com/companies/arcturus/)
4. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/arcturus](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/arcturus)

## Other roles at Arcturus

- [Senior Additive Manufacturing Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-additive-manufacturing-engineer-arcturus-los-angeles-qkm790zf377x) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Executive and Operations Assistant Internship](https://feeny.ai/job/executive-and-operations-assistant-internship-arcturus-los-angeles-bs7wsb8980hs) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Engineering Internship](https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-internship-arcturus-los-angeles-nwk41sankf93) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Project Arcturus: Open Application](https://feeny.ai/job/project-arcturus-open-application-arcturus-los-angeles-f4caekfhz669) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Senior Research and Prototyping Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-research-and-prototyping-engineer-arcturus-los-angeles-rrpr7zhasy36) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Senior Scientist / Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-scientist-engineer-arcturus-los-angeles-x96cn4zajwe7) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Lead Carbon Nanomaterials Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-carbon-nanomaterials-engineer-arcturus-los-angeles-4h6pyaskvz4z) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Lead Additive Manufacturing Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-additive-manufacturing-engineer-arcturus-los-angeles-sd22tw9tq6hd) — Los Angeles, CA