Materials and Fabrication Engineer — Scientific Instruments

The role

This role connects material behavior, process selection, and fabrication capability to the needs of new experimental instruments. It is suited to someone who enjoys the difficult gap between a promising design and a reproducible physical part.

The work

• Design and execute fabrication workflows for experimental components, test structures, fixtures, and specialized assemblies.
• Select and characterize materials with relevant electrical, optical, acoustic, mechanical, and chemical properties.
• Develop processes involving thin films, coatings, polymers, hydrogels, machining, additive manufacturing, or microfabrication as needed.
• Measure dimensional tolerances, surface quality, adhesion, stability, and process repeatability.
• Coordinate external cleanrooms, fabrication vendors, and analytical facilities when in-house capability is not available.
• Build process documentation, test coupons, material records, and quality checks that other researchers can repeat.
• Work with optical, electronic, and experimental researchers to close design and manufacturing feedback loops.

What matters

• Experience in materials science, microfabrication, precision manufacturing, MEMS, mechanical fabrication, or closely related experimental work.
• Comfort with one or more characterization tools and the interpretation of physical measurements.
• An ability to read technical drawings, understand fabrication constraints, and troubleshoot process failures.
• Familiarity with thin-film deposition, lithography, casting, soft materials, bonding, or packaging is useful, not all required.
• Careful documentation and understanding of safety, process variability, and traceability.

What good work looks like

A validated fabrication or materials process with working samples, reproducibility data, and an honest account of limitations.

Why this work matters

Research advances only when a design becomes a measurable and repeatable physical object.

Get in touch

Send us your CV, your personal website or examples of work you have done, particularly a fabrication or materials project showing your process, measurements and decisions. Include an informal handwritten statement of purpose, with no prescribed length, telling us why this mission matters to you, what difficult work has taught you, and what you would like to take responsibility for at Walnut. This mission will demand scientific rigor, patience, independent thinking and a willingness to test ideas against reality. Write the statement entirely in your own words, without using generative AI. We will not consider statements written using AI. A photograph or scan of the statement is sufficient, and a typed version is welcome if handwriting is difficult. A reference from someone who knows your work is welcome, but not required.