Senior Process Engineer

About the role

At MetOx International, we’re pioneering the next era of energy security and abundance through breakthrough superconducting technology. As a Senior Process Engineer specializing in thin-film deposition, you'll help advance one of the world's most sophisticated continuous manufacturing platforms. Your work will directly influence manufacturing yield, process capability, product performance, and the commercialization of next-generation high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wire.

Responsibilities

• Owns the technical development and continuous improvement of sputtering and related thin-film deposition processes supporting MetOx's manufacturing platform.
• Defines process capability improvement strategies that increase throughput, improve film quality, reduce variation, and enhance manufacturing robustness.
• Evaluates emerging deposition technologies, process innovations, and manufacturing approaches to support future product and manufacturing development.
• Provides technical leadership for deposition process performance across development, pilot production, and manufacturing scale-up.
• Designs and executes statistically rigorous experiments to optimize deposition processes, process capability, and manufacturing performance.
• Applies advanced process engineering principles to solve complex challenges involving film deposition, process stability, defect reduction, equipment capability, and yield improvement.
• Establishes operating windows, process controls, and statistical monitoring strategies to ensure repeatable manufacturing performance.
• Utilizes engineering and production data to identify trends, improve process capability, and implement sustainable process improvements.
• Troubleshoots complex manufacturing issues and implements long-term corrective and preventive actions.
• Partners with Manufacturing Engineering, Equipment Engineering, Materials Engineering, Quality, and Operations to successfully transition process improvements into production.
• Develops and maintains process specifications, standard operating procedures, qualification plans, and engineering documentation supporting manufacturing operations.
• Leads updates to process control plans, PFMEAs, and process validation activities.
• Supports manufacturing scale-up through robust process development, qualification, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Owns process engineering projects from problem definition through validation, implementation, and manufacturing handoff.
• Defines project scope, timelines, technical deliverables, and success metrics for process improvement initiatives.
• Leads cross-functional technical reviews while effectively communicating project progress, technical risks, and engineering recommendations.
• Coordinates internal engineering resources and external suppliers to ensure successful project execution.
• Mentors junior engineers and supports the technical development of engineering and manufacturing personnel.
• Promotes structured problem solving, statistical thinking, and engineering best practices across the organization.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or a related engineering or scientific discipline.
• Four years of process engineering or manufacturing engineering experience involving sputtering, physical vapor deposition (PVD), vacuum thin-film deposition, or closely related deposition technologies.
• Demonstrated experience designing and executing statistically driven process improvement experiments.
• Experience analyzing manufacturing data using statistical methods to improve process capability, product quality, and manufacturing performance.
• Demonstrated experience troubleshooting complex manufacturing processes and implementing sustainable corrective actions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree (Master’s or PhD) in Engineering or a related scientific discipline applicable to the position.
• Experience supporting high-temperature superconductors (HTS), semiconductor manufacturing, advanced coatings, optical coatings, battery materials, magnetic materials, or other thin-film technologies.
• Experience with reactive sputtering, magnetron sputtering, and biased or ion-assisted processing.
• Experience supporting technology transfer from development into manufacturing.
• Experience leading Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen, or Six Sigma initiatives.
• Experience with Design of Experiments (DOE), Statistical Process Control (SPC), MSA, JMP, Minitab, Python, or other statistical analysis tools.
• Experience with vacuum systems, plasma processing, and thin-film characterization techniques.

Skills

• Deep first-principles understanding of process, vacuum, and electronics relating to sputtered film growth and sidewall coverage.
• Strong understanding of statistical process control, process capability analysis, Design of Experiments (DOE), and data-driven process optimization.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a rigorous, data-driven approach to engineering decision making.
• Ability to independently lead technical projects while effectively influencing cross-functional engineering and manufacturing teams.
• Excellent communication and technical documentation skills.
• Demonstrated commitment to quality, continuous improvement, and manufacturing excellence.

Benefits

• Health, dental, and vision available on the first day of employment
• 401(k) match
• Paid parental leave & adoption assistance
• Educational reimbursement