Design Engineer (Aerospace and Defense Hardware)

About this role

DESIGN ENGINEER (AEROSPACE AND DEFENSE HARDWARE)

Freeform builds AI-native manufacturing systems that unify software, hardware, and physics to produce industrial-scale parts at the speed of human ideation. By treating manufacturing as a single integrated system, we unlock a new era of innovation where complex hardware is designed, built, and scaled without limits.

Freeform is hiring a Design Engineer focused on aerospace & defense hardware to sit at the intersection of advanced part design and additive manufacturing. This is a deeply technical engineering role responsible for rethinking how aerospace and defense hardware is conceived, designed, and produced - not just adapting existing parts for a new process, but fundamentally reimagining what's possible when legacy design constraints no longer apply. You will work hands-on with some of the most complex hardware in the industry, identifying where Freeform's platform unlocks performance regimes, architectures, and geometries that were previously impractical or impossible.

The ideal candidate is a strong mechanical or aerospace engineer with a deep intuition for part design and a genuine passion for pushing the boundaries of what hardware can do. They understand aerospace and defense systems at a component and systems level, can independently reason about manufacturability, materials, and performance tradeoffs, and are excited by the creative challenge of designing parts from first principles. The core draw of this role is the engineering itself - though this person will also engage directly with some of the most sophisticated frontier companies in the aerospace and defense industries.

Responsibilities:

• Drive part design and redesign across a broad range of aerospace and defense applications, including:

• Propulsion systems

• Heat exchangers and thermal management hardware

• Valves and fluid systems

• Turbomachinery components

• Combustion devices

• Lightweight structural components and assemblies

• Develop a deep understanding of component-level requirements, performance drivers, and system constraints within aerospace and defense programs

• Rethink part design from first principles - identifying where additive manufacturing enables new geometries, consolidated assemblies, improved performance, or reduced cost and lead time

• Develop and evaluate design concepts with a strong command of materials, tolerances, thermal and structural behavior, and production considerations

• Independently answer advanced technical questions related to design tradeoffs, process capabilities, qualification…