Capability Development Specialist

About the role

Hadrian - Manufacturing the Future Hadrian is building autonomous factories that help aerospace and defense companies manufacture rockets, satellites, jets, and ships up to 10x faster and up to 2x cheaper. By combining advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we are reinventing how America produces its most critical parts. We’re accelerating our mission with the launch of Factory 3 in Mesa, Arizona, a 290,000-square-foot facility creating 350 new jobs. We are expanding rapidly to support thousands of future hires, launching Hadrian Maritime to expand into naval production, and introducing a Factory-as-a-Service model that delivers complete systems instead of individual parts. Hadrian is backed by leading investors including T. Rowe Price, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and Andreessen Horowitz, our fast-growing team is united around reindustrializing American manufacturing for the 21st century and beyond. The Role Hadrian is building the most advanced manufacturing platform in the world, and Workforce Development is the team responsible for ensuring our people can keep pace with it. As Hadrian scales, one of the most critical challenges we face is this: the knowledge that makes our manufacturing processes work lives inside a small group of subject matter experts. It is undocumented, informal, and at risk of being lost as the company grows. The Capability Development Specialist exists to solve that problem. You will embed with SMEs across Hadrian's manufacturing operations, ask the right questions, and extract the process knowledge that would otherwise never be written down. Your output -- transcripts, video, written process notes -- becomes the foundation that Workforce Development builds training and certification programs from. This is a role for someone who is naturally curious, earns trust quickly with technical experts, and gets genuine satisfaction from bringing clarity to complex, unfinished knowledge. You do not need to be a manufacturing expert. You need to be the kind of person who knows how to get inside what an expert knows and put it into a form that anyone can use. What You'll Do Knowledge Extraction: Embed with SMEs to observe, interview, and document how manufacturing processes actually work, surfacing the tribal knowledge that would otherwise remain undocumented. Multi-format Documentation: Produce transcripts, video recordings, and written process notes that capture process knowledge comprehensively enough to serve as source material for Workforce Development and other teams. SME Relationship Management: Build trusted working relationships with SMEs to maintain ongoing access to the knowledge needed to keep capability documentation current and accurate. Process Observation: Spend time on the factory floor observing work in practice, identifying gaps between what is documented and how work actually happens. Handoff to Workforce Systems: Package and hand off captured knowledge to Workforce Systems in a clear, organized format that can be structured into training content and certification frameworks. Staying Current: Re-engage with SMEs when processes change, ensuring captured knowledge reflects the current state of each capability at all times. What We're Looking For Knowledge extraction: you know how to surface what people know but struggle to articulate. You ask questions that go beyond the obvious, follow threads, and document what you find without filtering it prematurely. Active listening and observation: you pay close attention to both what people say and what they do. You catch the details and nuances that others miss, and you know that the most important information is often what no one thinks to mention. Clear and thorough documentation: you produce written and recorded outputs that are accurate, comprehensive, and organized well enough for someone else to act on without needing to ask follow-up questions. Credibility in technical environments: you earn trust with subject matter experts quickly. You ask intelligent questions, know when something important is being glossed over, and build the kind of relationships that give you ongoing access to knowledge. Adaptability: you move between technical domains comfortably. You do not need to be a domain expert in every capability, but you pick up new processes and environments quickly and adjust your approach accordingly. What Will Set You Apart Experience conducting structured or semi-structured interviews with subject matter experts Background in journalism, UX research, ethnographic research, technical writing, or documentary production Familiarity with a manufacturing or industrial environment Experience working in a regulated environment where documentation accuracy has real consequences Background in a technical or engineering domain with a genuine interest in knowledge capture and documentation Benefits Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees 401k Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need. Flexible vacation policy ITAR Requirements To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here . Hadrian Is An Equal Opportunity Employer It is the Company’s policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. The Company does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race inclusive of traits historically associated with race (including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, such as braids, locks and twists), color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, national origin (including, in California, possession of a drivers license), ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, height or weight, medical condition, family care status, military or veteran status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, exercise of reproductive rights, any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws, or any combination of the above characteristics. When necessary, the Company also makes reasonable accommodations for disabled candidates and employees, including for candidates or employees who are disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.