How much experience is required?

4–6 years of relevant experience for this Composites Engineer role.

What's the tech stack?

Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: Manufacturing Engineering, aerospace structures, composite materials.

What seniority level is this role?

Reflect Orbital targets mid-level candidates for this position.

Is this full-time or contract?

Full-time for this Composites Engineer role at Reflect Orbital.

Composites Engineer at Reflect Orbital

Joblaze summary

In the role of Composites Engineer at Reflect Orbital, the individual will be responsible for the engineering and production of lightweight composite structures, overseeing everything from design to hands-on manufacturing. Key skills include expertise in composite materials, tooling design, and process optimization, with a strong emphasis on improving yield and performance. This position is ideal for someone with 4-6 years of relevant experience, particularly in aerospace or high-performance environments, who thrives in a fast-paced, innovative setting.

Joblaze insights

Listed 9 days ago on Joblaze — tracked directly from Reflect Orbital's career page.
Reflect Orbital has 23 other open roles including Head of Environmental Health and Safety, Director, Permitting, Orbit Operations Engineer.
48 active Manufacturing Engineering roles on Joblaze right now.
5 active composite materials roles on Joblaze right now.
Typical Manufacturing Engineering salary we track runs $100,000–$125,000 (median $100,000, across 15 roles).

Quick facts

How much experience is required?: 4–6 years of relevant experience for this Composites Engineer role.
What's the tech stack?: Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: Manufacturing Engineering, aerospace structures, composite materials.
What seniority level is this role?: Reflect Orbital targets mid-level candidates for this position.
Is this full-time or contract?: Full-time for this Composites Engineer role at Reflect Orbital.

From the original posting

At Reflect, you will be expected to move fast, have a lot of ownership and, most importantly, be able to effect change. If this excites you, we are interested in hearing about your best work and accomplishments across any domain and from any points in your life.

About the Role

As a Composites Engineer, you’ll own the engineering, development, and production of our ultra-light deployable composite structures. This role sits at the intersection of design, analysis, and hands-on manufacturing: you’ll refine laminate schedules, develop new layup processes, design tooling and fixtures, run experiments, and drive the factory-floor workflows that take a concept from CAD to flight hardware.

You will be responsible for improving yield, repeatability, and performance across all composite processes—curing, layup, machining, bonding, inspection, and structural validation—while collaborating closely with design engineering, test, and manufacturing. Your work directly determines the performance of the composite structures we’re flying to space.

Responsibilities

Own the engineering and process development for all in-house composite structures

Develop, validate, and optimize laminate schedules, cure cycles, and layup techniques
Design tooling, molds, fixtures, and inspection methods for thin high-precision composite parts
Run experiments to characterize materials and processes (fiber alignment, void fraction, cure kinetics, spring-in, etc.)
Implement manufacturing controls: travelers, process specs, inspection criteria, and QA workflows
Diagnose and resolve unusual composite manufacturing and structural issues
Collaborate with technicians to ensure manufacturability and performance alignment
Support fabrication on the floor—hands-on when needed—to bridge engineering and manufacturing
Drive continual improvement in surface quality, dimensional tolerance, repeatability, and yield
Support development and maintenance of capital equipment (ovens, autoclave alternatives, CNC routing for molds, etc.)

Ideal Qualifications

4–6 years of composites engineering experience spanning design, processing, and manufacturing.
Strong background in composite materials engineering, aerospace structures, or manufacturing engineering
Experience designing and producing thin high-precision composite laminates (prepreg preferred)
Hands-on experience with composite processing: layup, cure, debulk, trimming, bonding, inspection
Experience developing tooling, mold design, or fixture design for composite components
Familiarity with structural analysis of composite parts (FEA, laminate theory, material allowables)
Experience setting or improving manufacturing processes, specs, and quality control methods
Comfort working in fast-paced R&D environments with rapid iteration
Experience with spacecraft, high-performance deployable structures, or other extreme-environment hardware is a bonus

Even if you don’t meet 100% of the above qualifications, we are likely still interested in hearing from you. Hiring exceptional individuals is our #1 priority, and we believe that exceptional people often have highly unusual backgrounds.

We are also interested in carving out unique roles for unconventional people that we are excited about working with.

Benefits

Reflect Orbital’s success will hinge on our team, which is why our compensation and benefits plan is designed to reward our employees and support their families as generously as we’re able.

Broad choice of medical/dental/vision coverage, Reflect covers 100% of each base-policy
Access to HSA, FSA, and 401K
Unlimited paid time off
Healthy lunches provided daily

Equal Opportunity

Reflect Orbital is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Reflect Orbital 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.

More about Reflect Orbital:

Learn more about our team here.