Director, NDT-Non-Destructive Testing

Application close date:

Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed.

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!

This role is part of Blue Origin Operations, which is comprised of Integrated Supply Chain, Test Operations, Safety, Quality, and Mission Assurance. This includes Manufacturing and Supply Chain support across all Blue Origin facilities.

This role is part of the Blue Origin Operations, which is comprised of Integrated Supply Chain, Test Operations, Safety, Quality, and Mission Assurance. This includes Manufacturing and Supply Chain support across all Blue Origin facilities.

The Director, Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) is a leader who believes that rigorous inspection and evaluation practices are foundational to building and flying reliable, reusable space vehicles. Critically, this leader must be a strategic thinker — someone who recognizes that scaling NDT through headcount alone is not a sustainable or acceptable path for Blue Origin. The right leader will challenge the status quo by driving automation, partnering deeply with Design Engineering to influence design decisions that reduce or eliminate inspection requirements where appropriate, and continuously improving NDT processes to increase throughput, capability, and efficiency without proportionally growing the workforce. This role demands a forward-looking mindset: one that balances technical rigor with production scalability and relentlessly pursues smarter, leaner ways to assure product integrity.

A key mandate of this role is to close the current gap between NDT and Design Engineering. Today, NDT is not embedded early or deeply enough in the design process. This Director will be expected to fundamentally change that dynamic — establishing NDT as an integral voice in design reviews, material selection, producibility assessments, and requirements definition from the earliest stages of product development. The goal is to shift NDT from a downstream inspection function to an upstream partner that shapes designs for inspectability, reduces over-inspection, and drives requirements rationalization in collaboration with engineering.

In this role, you will lead and direct Blue Origin's enterprise-wide NDT organization, establishing strategies, standards, and processes to ensure the integrity of flight and ground support hardware across all programs and production sites. Serves as the senior technical authority for all NDT methods and applications, acting as a key interface between engineering, manufacturing, quality, and program teams to ensure inspection requirements are met safely, efficiently, and on schedule. Responsible for the strategic development and scaling of the NDT organization in alignment with Blue Origin's growing portfolio of products and businesses. We are looking for an individual who can implement innovative NDT solutions supporting accelerated manufacturing production, advanced materials and processes, and efficient, predictable production-capable inspection operations that will support sub-orbital and orbital manufacturing and launch. This position will fall under the Sr. Director of Quality Assurance and directly impact the history of space exploration. It will require dedication and detailed attention towards excelling safe and reusable space flight.

This role is part of the Safety, Quality, and Mission Assurance team, which focuses on monitoring and assessing processes that guide Blue Origin design, manufacture, and operations, ensuring system safety engineering, environmental health and safety, product integrity, and continuous improvement processes serve the Blue Origin Mission and Vision.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Strategic Vision & Continuous Improvement

Develop and execute a forward-looking enterprise NDT strategy that prioritizes automation, technology insertion, and requirements optimization over workforce scaling — growing capability and capacity without proportionally growing headcount

Drive a continuous improvement culture within the NDT organization, leveraging Lean principles, process automation, and data analytics to systematically reduce cycle times, eliminate waste, and improve first-pass yield

Identify, evaluate, and deploy automated NDT inspection systems (e.g., automated UT scanning, robotic X-ray, machine-vision-assisted inspection) to replace manual, labor-intensive inspection processes in production environments

Lead initiatives to rationalize and right-size NDT requirements across programs — partnering with Engineering to critically evaluate where inspection requirements can be reduced, consolidated, or eliminated through improved design, process controls, or analytical methods without compromising product integrity

Develop business cases and roadmaps for NDT technology investments, clearly tying automation and process improvement initiatives to production rate readiness, cost reduction, and workforce efficiency goals

Design Engineering Integration & Upstream Influence

Establish NDT as an embedded, early-stage partner in the design process — closing the current gap between NDT and Design Engineering by inserting NDT expertise into conceptual design, detailed design reviews, and producibility assessments from program inception

Partner with Design Engineering and Materials & Processes (M&P) teams to influence hardware designs for inspectability, advocating for design features, tolerances, and material selections that simplify or reduce downstream inspection burden

Work with Design Engineering to challenge and refine NDT acceptance criteria and inspection requirements, ensuring they are risk-based, technically justified, and not overly conservative — driving requirements rationalization as a standard practice

Support new product introduction (NPI) and new process development by proactively evaluating inspectability of designs, identifying potential inspection bottlenecks early, and recommending NDT methods and design changes during design reviews

Develop and maintain formal processes and engagement models (e.g., standing participation in design reviews, IPT membership, producibility review gates) that ensure sustained, structured NDT involvement with engineering teams across all programs

Operations & Technical Leadership

Develop and execute standardized NDT processes, procedures, and specifications across all Blue Origin manufacturing and launch sites

Lead a team of Senior Managers, NDT Level 3 examiners, NDT Engineers (Level 1 through Prin.), and NDT Technicians (Level 1 through Sr.) responsible for all inspection methods including radiographic testing (RT), ultrasonic testing (UT), penetrant testing (PT), eddy current testing (ET), visual testing (VT), and emerging/advanced methods (e.g., phased array UT, computed tomography, digital radiography, thermography)

Serve as the corporate NDT authority, ensuring all NDT processes and procedures comply with applicable customer and regulatory requirements

Drive the selection, qualification, and standardization of NDT equipment, techniques, and acceptance criteria across programs

Develop inspection processes and acceptance standards in coordination with engineering

Manage NDT-related nonconformance investigations, root cause analysis, and corrective actions; provide disposition recommendations and technical rationale

Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) for NDT operations including turnaround time, throughput, technician utilization, escape rate, and first-pass yield

Compliance, Accreditation & External Engagement

Ensure compliance with applicable industry standards and specificati