Aerospace & Defense STEM OPT Jobs in California

Fantastic challenges. Amazing opportunities.

GKN Aerospace is reimagining air travel: going further, faster and greener! Fuelled by great people whose expertise and creativity sets the standards in our industry, we’re inspired by the opportunities to innovate and break boundaries. We’re proud to play a part in protecting the world’s democracies. And we’re committed to putting sustainability at the centre of everything we do, opening up and protecting our planet. With over 16,000 employees across 32 manufacturing sites in 12 countries we serve over 90% of the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers and achieved sales of £3.6bn in 2025. There are no limits to where you can take your career.

Job Summary

Perform accurate, timely, and traceable chemical and physical testing that supports material acceptance, process control, product conformity, product safety, and customer requirements for civil and military aerospace transparency products.

Apply analytical wet chemistry, chromatography, spectroscopy, moisture analysis, titration, and physical-test methods in accordance with approved procedures, specifications, quality controls, and laboratory safety requirements.

Protect the integrity of samples, standards, instruments, electronic and paper records, calculations, and test results so laboratory decisions are technically sound, repeatable, and audit-ready.

Job Responsibilities

1. Analytical Chemistry and Wet Chemistry Testing

• Perform quantitative and qualitative chemical analyses using approved laboratory procedures, test methods, specifications, and acceptance criteria.
• Operate GC, GPC, HPLC, automated and manual titration systems, Karl Fischer moisture analyzers, FT-IR, UV-Visible, moisture analyzers, and other authorized analytical equipment.
• Prepare, label, standardize, control, and document samples, reference standards, reagents, buffers, mobile phases, calibration solutions, and chemical solutions.
• Perform titrations, extraction, dilution, solution preparation, sample preparation, and quantitative calculations with appropriate controls, blanks, checks, and repeat criteria.
• Review chromatograms, spectra, calculations, instrument status, and quality-control checks; promptly identify and escalate anomalous, invalid, or out-of-specification results.

2. Physical and Materials Testing

• Follow approved test plans and work instructions to set up and perform physical and chemical testing of materials, process samples, and product-related specimens.
• Assist Test Engineers with complex test programs, fixtures, instrumentation, gauges, sensors, and data-acquisition systems.
• Verify specimen identity, orientation, conditioning, preparation, and required test conditions before execution.
• Record observations, measurements, environmental conditions, interruptions, deviations, and results accurately and completely.

3. Aerospace Laboratory Quality and Data Integrity

• Maintain chain of custody, sample traceability, lot or batch identity, test-request linkage, revision status, and objective evidence required for aerospace and defense records.
• Use only approved methods, specifications, software, calculations, forms, equipment, and current controlled documents; stop and escalate when requirements are unclear or unavailable.
• Ensure laboratory data are attributable, legible, contemporaneous, original or properly controlled, accurate, complete, and protected from unauthorized alteration.
• Do not invalidate, repeat, average, substitute, or omit test results except through an approved technical review or documented procedure.
• Protect customer, program, technical, and laboratory information in accordance with applicable export-control, security, access, and information-handling requirements.

4. Equipment, Calibration and Method Control

• Perform routine instrument checks, verification, calibration support, maintenance, cleaning, troubleshooting, and performance documentation within assigned authorization.
• Confirm calibration status, method suitability, system suitability, control results, and environmental conditions before accepting data.
• Label and remove from service equipment or standards that are damaged, expired, out of calibration, or otherwise unsuitable; promptly assess and escalate potential impact on prior results.
• Support method validation, verification, transfer, uncertainty or capability studies, proficiency testing, and correlation activities as assigned.

5. Safety, Chemical Handling and Laboratory Operations

• Follow site EH&S requirements, hazard communication, chemical hygiene, personal protective equipment, waste segregation, spill response, emergency, and equipment-safety procedures.
• Handle flammable, corrosive, toxic, reactive, or otherwise hazardous chemicals and engineered materials using established controls and compatible storage.
• Maintain clean, organized, contamination-controlled work areas and manage glassware, consumables, reagents, standards, samples, and retained specimens.
• Coordinate calibration, preventive maintenance, service, consumable readiness, and laboratory supply requirements to avoid unnecessary test disruption.

6. Reporting, Audits and Continuous Improvement

• Generate, review, organize, and retain laboratory worksheets, electronic records, calculations, reports, certificates, equipment logs, and supporting evidence.
• Communicate test status, technical issues, turnaround risks, invalid tests, nonconforming results, and resource needs promptly to laboratory leadership and affected stakeholders.
• Support internal, customer, regulatory, and third-party audits by explaining test methods, equipment controls, records, traceability, safety practices, and corrective actions within assigned expertise.
• Participate in nonconformance investigations, root-cause analysis, corrective action, method revision, risk reduction, and waste or cycle-time improvement.
• Train and mentor authorized laboratory personnel on approved analytical methods, instrument operation, documentation, and laboratory safety practices.

Job Qualifications

• Associate, technical, or bachelor degree in Chemistry, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Engineering Technology, or a related scientific discipline.
• Two or more years of hands-on experience in analytical chemistry, wet chemistry, materials testing, or a related laboratory environment.
• Experience with titration, chemical-solution preparation, sample preparation, extraction, dilution, and quantitative chemical analysis.
• Experience operating analytical instrumentation such as GC, GPC, HPLC, titration, Karl Fischer, FT-IR, UV-Visible, moisture, or comparable laboratory systems.
• Ability to read and follow technical procedures, specifications, laboratory work instructions, test methods, and acceptance criteria.
• Experience supporting laboratory procedures and documentation, technical troubleshooting, data review, report generation, and record control.
• Ability to explain laboratory processes and quality controls during audits and to train or mentor personnel within assigned qualifications.
• Ability to work independently, manage multiple assignments, and maintain accuracy in a fast-paced regulated laboratory.
• Ability to lift and carry laboratory fixtures, tools, equipment, or specimens weighing up to 20 pounds.
• Must satisfy all position-specific employment eligibility, export-control, site-access, citizenship, and security requirements applicable to the work performed. The source requisition identifies U.S. citizenship and ITAR/EAR eligibility requirements; Human Resources and Trade Compliance should validate final posting language.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Materials Science, Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Three to five years of analytical chemistry or materials-testing laboratory experience.
• Advanced experience operating, maintaining, and troubleshooting GC, GPC, HPLC, titration, FT-IR, UV-Visible, moisture, or related analytical equipment.
• Familiarity with ASTM, ISO, aerospace, military, or customer-specific material and test standards.
• Experience in aerospace, defense, polymer, acrylic, glass, coatings, adhesive, resin, chemical-processing, or other regulated laboratory environments.
• Experience supporting AS9100, ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 17025, Nadcap materials-testing, customer, or regulatory audit expectations, as applicable to the laboratory scope.
• Knowledge of chemical handling, hazardous-waste controls, laboratory safety, emergency response, and contamination prevention.
• Experience with laboratory information systems, electronic data systems, statistical methods, method validation, proficiency testing, or measurement uncertainty.

Compensation Data

Pay Range: $36.31/hour - $45.38/hour

We’ll offer you fantastic challenges and amazing opportunities. This is your chance to be part of an organisation that has proven itself to be at the cutting edge of our industry; and is committed to pushing the boundaries even further. And with some of the best training on offer in the industry, who knows how far you can go?

A Great Place to work needs a Great Way of Working

Everyone is welcome to apply to GKN. We believe that we can only achieve our ambitions through a coming together of diverse minds who enjoy collaborating in an inspirational environment. Through our commitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging and by living our five powerful principles we’ve created a culture where everyone feels welcome to contribute. It’s a culture that won us ‘The Best Workplace Culture Award’. By embracing and celebrating what makes us unique we encourage everyone to bring their full self to work.

We’re also committed to providing an accessible recruitment process, so if you require reasonable adjustments at any stage during our recruitment process please get in touch and let us know.

We are the place where human dreams, plus human endeavour, shape the future of aerospace innovation and technology.