Optical Coating Process Engineer II

About the role

The Coating Process Engineer II owns and improves optical thin film coating manufacturing processes in Fairport’s Coating department. The role provides day-to-day engineering support to production operations with a focus on process capability, stability, yield, and cost, while building from established designs and standard work.

Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day production support by troubleshooting process excursions, performing root-cause analysis, and driving corrective/preventive actions.
• Sustain and optimize manufacturing processes using existing production assets; monitor key metrics and implement actions to improve stability, yield, and throughput.
• Use, improve, and standardize metrology methods to monitor process capability; analyze data to identify trends and prevent defects.
• Define and improve cleaning, material handling, and storage procedures within the coating process flow, ensuring appropriate documentation and adherence to change control.
• Identify and lead continuous improvement projects to reduce cost and variation (cycle time, complexity, scrap), with clear problem statements, data, and verified results.
• Create and maintain documentation (specs, work instructions, control plans) and deliver training to production staff for new/changed processes.
• Partner with Commercial and Development Engineering to extend capabilities and support technology transfer into manufacturing, including trials, qualification, and ramp support.
• Partner with suppliers to improve raw materials and work with customers to qualify additional equipment and respond to complaints.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in an Engineering or Science discipline (Optical Science/Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Ceramic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering).
• 5+ years of experience in optical thin film coating (UV/visible preferred) manufacturing/production support, or related vacuum coating process experience.
• Demonstrated critical thinking and structured problem solving to diagnose root cause and drive corrective actions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to document process changes and train stakeholders.
• Working knowledge of Statistical/6-Sigma/DOE tools and hypothesis-driven troubleshooting; able to apply data analysis to improve yield, throughput, and stability.
• Comfortable working with and influencing stakeholders across levels (operators/technicians through engineering and leadership) to implement sustainable solutions.
• Able to work effectively on a multi-disciplinary team (Manufacturing, Quality, Maintenance, Development) and manage multiple priorities.

Qualifications

• Experience implementing and improving process capability and control systems (SPC, Cp/Cpk).
• Experience applying problem solving, statistical process control and continuous improvement methodologies: Performance Excellence, DMAIC, Lean, Six Sigma, root cause analysis, data analysis, or others.
• Track record of cycle time reduction, yield improvement, and rework elimination.
• Previous experience in technical manufacturing and process support.

Skills

• Comfortable working with and influencing stakeholders across levels (operators/technicians through engineering and leadership) to implement sustainable solutions.
• Able to work effectively on a multi-disciplinary team (Manufacturing, Quality, Maintenance, Development) and manage multiple priorities.

Benefits

Company-wide bonuses and long-term incentives align with key business results and ensure you are rewarded when the company performs well. When Corning wins, we all win.

Pay

$84,932.00 - $116,782.00 assuming full time status. Starting pay for the successful applicant is dependent on a variety of job-related factors, including but not limited to geographic location, market demands, experience, training, and education.

Schedule

First shift production hours, Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm. Evening and weekend support as needed.