Composites Lead

About Ardent

We are building the flying car. The next generation of great companies will deliver on the sci-fi promises of the mid-20th century, and personal aviation remains conspicuously unfinished. Aviation went from twelve seconds over the dunes at Kitty Hawk to supersonic flight in a single man's lifetime. Then progress in personal aviation ground to a halt. Ardent is reconsidering the aircraft from first principles: distributed electric propulsion designed to accommodate inevitable failures, hydrocarbon energy for useful range, and relentless simplicity to make the product affordable. Electricity should move the aircraft. Fuel should carry the energy.

Our path begins with the simplest aircraft capable of proving that architecture, progresses through unmanned applications, and leads to a two-seat aircraft that people buy because they want to go somewhere. Each step must compound toward the same goal: a flying car that clearly wins against the car on meaningful trips. We will build, fly, break things, and let reality and rapidly developed test data be the final arbiter. The measure of success is miles flown that otherwise would have been driven—and, eventually, journeys that used to be impractical. The automobile radically expanded the geographic and economic radius of human life. Personal aviation will do it again.

About the role

Build the carbon fiber structures that turn Ardent's aircraft from a design into a flying machine. This is a fabrication-heavy role for someone who has personally made excellent composite parts and can lead others to do the same. You should also understand design well enough to work with our engineers on laminate choices, tooling, joints, and details that determine whether a structure can be built reliably. We need a lead who spends real time in the shop.

What you will do

• Own hands-on composite fabrication from tooling and material preparation through layup, cure, trimming, bonding, and final inspection.
• Select and develop practical fabrication processes for prototypes and early production. Build molds, fixtures, work instructions, and travelers that make good results repeatable.
• Work with engineering on laminate schedules, ply orientation, core materials, inserts, joints, access, and manufacturability.
• Plan builds, estimate material and labor needs, and coordinate priorities with engineering, procurement, and aircraft integration.
• Control material handling, out-time and shelf life where applicable, cure records, bond preparation, and part traceability. Identify defects and work with engineering on disposition.
• Build test coupons and structural test articles. Use test and inspection results to improve both the part and the process.
• Hire, train and lead technicians as the team grows. Establish a shop that handles dust, resins, chemicals, tooling, and curing equipment safely and consistently.

What you bring

• Extensive hands-on experience fabricating carbon fiber parts, including tooling, vacuum bagging, bonding, and troubleshooting real manufacturing defects.
• Experience carrying parts from drawings or CAD through a finished assembly, with a clear understanding of tolerances and fit.
• Enough composite design knowledge to discuss load paths, fiber orientation, laminate construction, sandwich structures, and joints with the engineering team.
• Ability to recognize a bad bond, compromised laminate, or process deviation and stop it from moving downstream.
• Willingness to build parts yourself while developing a team and a repeatable process.

Useful experience

Experience with flight structures, prepreg and oven or autoclave curing, infusion, composite repairs, CAD for tooling, nondestructive inspection, or scaling a prototype shop into production.

What success looks like

The team gets consistent, well-documented structures that fit the aircraft and meet engineering requirements. Fabrication lessons reach the design quickly, and the shop can repeat a successful build.