Senior Director, Applications Engineering

Job Description

Job Description

Company Overview:

MP Materials (NYSE: MP) is rebuilding American industrial capability for a new era of autonomy, robotics, and electrification.

We are the only U.S. company with a fully integrated rare earth supply chain—from mining and refining to advanced metal and magnet manufacturing. Our products include both the critical materials used to make permanent magnets and the finished magnets themselves—enabling next-generation technologies in robotics, automation, aerospace, transportation, defense, and energy systems. These materials are the foundation of physical AI—the convergence of computation, movement, and control.

We hire ambitious, mission-driven people who want to tackle complex challenges and shape the future of strategic industries. Our culture is rooted in teamwork, resiliency, and integrity, with a deep commitment to operational excellence and national purpose. MP is rapidly evolving from a materials producer into a leading U.S. manufacturer—and our people are driving that transformation.

Position Overview:

We are seeking a Senior Director of Applications Engineering to lead the Applications Engineering function for our Magnetics business in Fort Worth, TX. This leader will operate at the center of Magnet Technology, Sales, Manufacturing, and Process Engineering, providing the technical and organizational bridge between customer needs, product technology, commercial opportunities, and production capability. The Senior Director will build and direct the organization that connects customer applications with MP’s permanent magnet products and manufacturing capabilities and will be accountable for customer technical engagement, magnet application engineering, electric machine support, design for manufacturability, new product definition, qualification, and the technical handoff of customer programs into production.

The successful candidate will lead a multidisciplinary team spanning electric machines, magnet applications, and manufacturing-focused applications engineering. This role will ensure that technical decisions, customer commitments, product requirements, and manufacturing development plans remain aligned. The Senior Director will also partner closely with Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, and Sales to convert market and customer needs into differentiated, producible products and scalable business processes.

Position Responsibilities:

• Lead, develop, and scale the Applications Engineering organization, including customer-facing electric machine, magnet application, and manufacturing applications engineering capabilities.
• Position Applications Engineering as the central technical integration function among Magnet Technology, Sales, Manufacturing, and Process Engineering, with clear ownership of cross-functional alignment from customer need through production execution.
• Establish the function’s strategy, operating model, priorities, technical standards, decision rights, and performance expectations in alignment with Magnetics business objectives.
• Own the end-to-end technical customer engagement process from early opportunity and RFQ through product definition, prototype, qualification, launch, production support, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure customer requirements are translated into clear and manufacturable product specifications, including grade, magnetic performance, geometry, tolerances, coating, magnetization, inspection, qualification, and acceptance criteria.
• Direct technical support for motors, actuators, sensors, generators, drone propulsion systems, medical devices, defense applications, and other magnet-enabled products.
• Lead design-for-manufacturability reviews and ensure proposed products can be produced, inspected, qualified, and sustained across MP’s powder processing, pressing, sintering, heat treatment, machining, coating, magnetization, and inspection operations.
• Partner with Sales to qualify opportunities, understand customer priorities, shape technical value propositions, guide customer decisions, and ensure commercial commitments are supported by sound technical assumptions and executable plans
• Partner with Magnet Technology to translate application needs and market feedback into magnet grades, product designs, performance targets, technical roadmaps, and development priorities.
• Partner with Manufacturing and Process Engineering to translate new product requirements into capable process routes, development plans, equipment and tooling needs, control strategies, qualification plans, and production-readiness criteria.
• Build and continuously improve tools, workflows, design guidance, application data, specifications, risk registers, and knowledge-management systems that support repeatable execution and organizational learning.
• Chair cross-functional technical reviews that bring Magnet Technology, Sales, Manufacturing, and Process Engineering together to resolve tradeoffs, establish ownership, make timely decisions, and maintain alignment on new products and customer programs.
• Create closed-loop feedback between customer applications, product technology, process development, and manufacturing performance so field and production learning informs future designs, specifications, and capability investments.
• Balance customer performance requirements with producibility, yield, cost, lead time, capital requirements, qualification burden, supply-chain resilience, and long-term product reliability.
• Identify product, process, and capability investments needed to serve current and future markets; translate customer and market insights into technology and manufacturing roadmaps.
• Guide the evaluation and technical management of external manufacturers, tollers, specialty processors, development partners, and suppliers when internal capability is unavailable or still being developed.
• Provide executive-level visibility into opportunity status, technical risk, development needs, resource constraints, customer commitments, and launch readiness.
• Recruit, coach, and retain a high-performing team; develop technical depth, customer judgment, leadership capability, succession plans, and clear career paths.
• Serve as a senior technical representative with strategic customers, partners, industry organizations, and internal leadership.
• Lead resolution of significant customer and production issues involving magnetic performance, dimensions, coatings, magnetization, demagnetization, thermal exposure, assembly fit, qualification results, or specification interpretation.
• Promote a culture of ownership, disciplined engineering, fact-based decision-making, direct communication, and strong follow-through.
• Other duties, as assigned.

Basic Qualifications:

• BS or higher in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, materials science, physics, manufacturing engineering, or another relevant technical discipline.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in applications engineering, product engineering, electric machine design, magnetics, manufacturing engineering, or a closely related technical field.
• 5+ years of experience leading engineering teams, including hiring, coaching, setting priorities, allocating resources, and developing technical talent.
• Demonstrated experience leading customer-facing technical organizations or major customer programs from opportunity development through qualification, launch, and production support.
• Strong working knowledge of permanent magnets, rare earth magnet applications, electric machines, electromechanical products, or high-precision engineered components.
• Experience translating complex customer and market requirements into product strategies, technical specifications, development programs, manufacturing requirements, and investment priorities.
• Experience leading cross-functional work across commercial, product, engineering, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and program management organizations.
• Demonstrated ability to balance technical performance, customer value, manufacturability, quality, cost, schedule, risk, and business priorities.
• Experience building scalable engineering processes, tools, governance, metrics, and knowledge systems in a growing organization.
• Strong executive communication and customer presence, including the ability to explain complex technical issues, tradeoffs, risks, and recommendations clearly and directly.
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-moving manufacturing scale-up environment with multiple concurrent customer programs and evolving capabilities.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office.

Desired Qualities:

• Advanced degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, materials science, physics, manufacturing engineering, or a related field. 
• Deep expertise in NdFeB permanent magnet grades, BH curves, intrinsic coercivity, remanence, demagnetization behavior, thermal limits, coatings, corrosion protection, magnetization, and qualification methods. 
• Experience with electric machine design, motors, actuators, sensors, generators, magnetic circuit analysis, electromagnetic simulation, or finite element analysis. 
• Understanding of rare earth materials, powder metallurgy, permanent magnet manufacturing, machining, coating, magnetization, inspection, and magnet assembly processes.
• Experience with automotive, aerospace, defense, robotics, automation, medical, energy, or other high-reliability product qualification and launch processes. 
• Experience developing product or technology roadmaps from customer needs, market trends, manufacturing capabilities, and competitive intelligence. 
• Experience establishing or scaling an Applications Engineering organization in a high-growth industrial or advanced manufacturing business. 
• Commercial awareness and demonstrated ability to support opportunity selection, quotation strategy, customer negotiations, and value-based technical decisions. 
• High ownership, strong technical judgment, organizational discipline, customer orientation, and a practical leadership style. 

MP Materials is Proud to be an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer - EEO is The Law. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Underrepresented groups/Women/Disabled/Veterans are encouraged to apply. Candidates whose disabilities make them unable to meet the position’s requirements will still be considered qualified if they can perform the essential functions of the job with reasonable accommodation.

Your Right to Work – In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment verification document form upon hire.

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