Role Overview

We are looking for a Senior Additive Manufacturing Engineer to lead and develop our Additive Manufacturing operations in Amsterdam. The role will be responsible for building and managing our local AM capability, supporting customer and internal projects, qualifying manufacturing partners, preparing parts for production, and ensuring that AM processes meet the required technical, quality, and industry standards.

The ideal candidate will have strong hands-on experience in metal additive manufacturing, especially LPBF / SLM, combined with practical knowledge of polymer AM technologies such as SLS, MJF, SLA, and FDM. This person should be able to move comfortably between design, engineering, production preparation, vendor management, quality documentation, and customer-facing technical support.

This is a key role for someone who can act as the technical owner for AM in Amsterdam and help scale the operation from engineering feasibility through to qualified production.

Key Responsibilities

Additive Manufacturing Operations

• Lead the day-to-day technical development and execution of the Amsterdam AM operation, including process setup, supplier coordination, production preparation, and technical delivery.
• Develop, document, and improve workflows for metal and polymer additive manufacturing, including design review, build preparation, supplier selection, production follow-up, inspection, testing, and final delivery.
• Support the setup and growth of AM and digital inventory services, including the conversion of physical parts into qualified digital assets for repeatable production.
• Act as the local technical authority for AM projects, ensuring that designs, processes, materials, and manufacturing routes are appropriate for the application.

Metal Additive Manufacturing

• Lead projects involving metal LPBF / SLM technologies, including material selection, design adaptation, support generation, build orientation, post-processing requirements, testing strategy, and production documentation.
• Work with metals such as stainless steels, maraging steel, nickel alloys, cobalt chrome, and titanium alloys.
• Support parameter development, production readiness, and manufacturing feasibility reviews for metal AM components.
• Coordinate post-processing activities such as heat treatment, machining allowance, surface finishing, inspection, and mechanical or metallurgical testing.

Polymer Additive Manufacturing

• Support polymer AM applications using technologies such as SLS, MJF, SLA, and FDM.
• Advise on suitable polymer materials, including PA12, PA11, engineering resins, PLA, PETG, ABS, TPU, and related materials.
• Prepare polymer parts for production, including design optimization, nesting/build preparation, tolerance considerations, and supplier coordination.
• Identify when polymer AM is suitable for prototyping, tooling, low-volume production, replacement parts, or functional end-use applications.

Design for Additive Manufacturing

• Apply Design for Additive Manufacturing principles across both metal and polymer applications.
• Review customer or internal CAD models and recommend improvements for manufacturability, weight reduction, part consolidation, support reduction, post-processing efficiency, and performance.
• Make design modifications where required, including shrinkage compensation, machining stock addition, support strategy, tolerance adaptation, and production-readiness changes.
• Use CAD, reverse engineering, and 3D scanning workflows to recreate, improve, or validate components.

Build Preparation and Software

• Prepare print-ready files for internal production or external manufacturing partners.
• Perform support generation, build orientation, nesting, slicing preparation, and manufacturability checks using tools such as Materialise Magics and relevant AM software platforms.
• Work with CAD and engineering tools such as SolidWorks, Autodesk Inventor, Creo, Rhino, ANSYS, OpenFOAM, MATLAB, or equivalent software.
• Quality, Standards, and Vendor Qualification
• Qualify AM vendors and production partners based on technical capability, process maturity, quality systems, material capability, inspection capacity, and compliance with relevant standards.
• Work with external testing laboratories for powder testing, printed part testing, mechanical testing, metallurgical analysis, and conformity assessment.
• Develop and maintain technical documentation, manufacturing requirements, testing plans, inspection records, and qualification files.
• Support compliance with relevant AM and engineering standards, including ASTM, ISO, API, DNV, and sector-specific customer requirements.
• Conduct risk assessments, root cause analysis, and corrective actions in the event of print failures, quality deviations, or production issues.
• Customer and Business Support
• Provide technical support to commercial, operations, and customer-facing teams during feasibility reviews, tenders, quotations, and project scoping.
• Translate customer requirements into practical AM manufacturing routes, including cost, lead time, risk, material, and qualification considerations.
• Present AM capabilities, project findings, and technical recommendations to internal stakeholders, customers, suppliers, and external partners.
• Support training, knowledge sharing, and capability building across the Amsterdam team.

Required Experience

• Minimum 5 years of experience in additive manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, mechanical engineering, or a closely related technical field.
• Strong hands-on experience with metal additive manufacturing, especially LPBF / SLM.
• Practical experience with polymer AM technologies, ideally including SLS, MJF, SLA, and FDM.
• Experience preparing parts for AM production, including build orientation, support generation, print file preparation, post-processing planning, and inspection requirements.
• Strong understanding of DfAM for both metals and polymers.
• Experience working with AM production suppliers, testing laboratories, or manufacturing partners.
• Experience with AM quality documentation, process development, vendor qualification, or production qualification.
• Ability to review and modify CAD models for manufacturability and production readiness.
• Experience working with relevant standards such as ASTM, ISO, API, DNV, or equivalent industry frameworks.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain AM concepts to engineering, commercial, supplier, and customer audiences.

Preferred Experience

• Experience setting up or scaling an additive manufacturing service, production cell, digital inventory platform, or AM operations function.
• Experience in regulated or high-performance sectors such as energy, aerospace, maritime, industrial equipment, medical, or oil and gas.
• Experience with DNV B203 or similar AM facility/process qualification frameworks.
• Experience with mechanical testing, metallurgical testing, powder characterization, or failure analysis.
• Experience with 3D scanning, reverse engineering, and digital asset creation.
• CFD or simulation experience, particularly where simulation is used to improve component performance or support design optimization.
• Experience training engineers, operators, or commercial teams on AM workflows and technical decision-making.

Technical Skills

AM technologies: LPBF / SLM, SLS, MJF, SLA, FDM; knowledge of Binder Jetting, EBM, WAAM, or DED would be beneficial.

Materials: Stainless steels, maraging steel, nickel alloys, cobalt chrome, titanium alloys, PA12, PA11, engineering resins, PLA, PETG, ABS, TPU, and other AM polymers.

Software: Materialise Magics, SolidWorks, Autodesk Inventor, Creo, Rhino, ANSYS, OpenFOAM, MATLAB, Microsoft Office, or equivalent tools.

Engineering capabilities: DfAM, CAD modification, support generation, build preparation, vendor qualification, testing coordination, root cause analysis, reverse engineering, 3D scanning, technical documentation, and production readiness assessment.

Personal Attributes

• Hands-on and practical, with the ability to solve production and engineering problems independently.
• Comfortable operating in a growing or evolving business environment where processes may need to be built from the ground up.
• Strong technical judgment and ability to balance performance, manufacturability, cost, lead time, and risk.
• Confident working with suppliers, customers, testing labs, and internal stakeholders.
• Clear communicator who can train others and represent the company’s AM capability externally.
• Detail-oriented, structured, and quality-focused.
• Commercially aware, with the ability to support quotations, feasibility assessments, and customer discussions.

Key Success Measures

• Successful setup and technical leadership of the Amsterdam AM operation.
• Reliable delivery of metal and polymer AM projects from feasibility through production.
• Qualified supplier network for metal and polymer AM production.
• Clear and repeatable AM workflows, documentation, and quality processes.
• Reduction in production failures through improved design review, build preparation, and supplier control.
• Strong internal AM knowledge base and improved capability across the wider team.
• Positive customer feedback on technical support, project delivery and AM expertise.