Senior Crystal Growth Engineer

Responsibilities

· Own and improve crystal-growth processes from charge preparation and furnace setup through growth, cooldown, inspection, and disposition, with a focus on quality, yield, throughput, and safe operation.

· Lead a development-heavy portfolio for oxide and garnet materials while providing production-sustaining engineering support for deployed growth methods, including process stability, yield, quality, and equipment capability.

· Apply advanced understanding of thermal fields, temperature gradients, pull or translation rate, rotation, atmosphere, pressure, melt chemistry, crucible and hot-zone configuration, and seed orientation to control crystal quality and reproducibility.

· Provide technical leadership and hands-on support for Czochralski, Bridgman-Stockbarger, Float Zone, and Skull Melting processes; evaluate method selection and parameter windows for materials and product requirements.

· Plan, execute, and analyze structured process experiments and DOE; translate results into controlled work instructions, recipes, process specifications, and training materials.

· Investigate growth, material, and equipment excursions using data and root-cause methods; define and verify corrective and preventive actions with Manufacturing, Quality, Maintenance, and Engineering partners.

· Use process and characterization data to identify trends in defects, inclusions, stress, cracking, composition, optical performance, and other relevant material attributes; recommend practical process improvements.

· Support furnace and ancillary-equipment capability, including preventive maintenance priorities, calibration, controls, sensors, vacuum or inert-gas systems, RF or induction systems, and troubleshooting of equipment-related variation.

· Establish and maintain process-control plans, risk assessments, change-control records, and technical reports; communicate results, risks, and recommendations clearly to cross-functional teams and leadership.

· Support transfer of new or improved processes from development to production, including qualification runs, acceptance criteria, operator training, and sustained process monitoring.

· Promote a strong EHS culture by following applicable procedures and identifying hazards associated with high temperature, vacuum, pressure, inert gases, RF/induction power, and materials handling.

Position Requirements

· Bachelor's degree in Materials Science, Ceramic Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or a closely related technical discipline.

· At least 9 years of direct, hands-on experience in crystal growth, crystal-growth process development, or high-temperature materials manufacturing.

· Direct experience growing oxide and/or garnet materials, or demonstrably transferable experience with comparable high-temperature oxide crystal-growth systems.

· Advanced working knowledge of crystal-growth process physics and parameter control, including the relationship of thermal profile, melt behavior, atmosphere, growth rate, and equipment configuration to crystal quality and yield.

· Demonstrated familiarity with Czochralski, Bridgman-Stockbarger, Float Zone, and Skull Melting techniques; depth in the methods used at the site will be evaluated during selection.

· Experience planning and interpreting experiments, analyzing process data, and applying statistical or structured problem-solving methods to improve capability and reduce variation.

· Experience troubleshooting furnaces, controls, instrumentation, vacuum/inert-gas systems, and related growth equipment in a manufacturing or development environment.

· Ability to write clear technical documentation and communicate effectively with operators, technicians, engineers, quality personnel, and leaders.

· Proficiency with Microsoft Office and data-analysis tools used to document and evaluate process performance.

· Ability to work onsite in Budd Lake, New Jersey. Position level, reporting relationship, travel expectations, work schedule, compensation range, and any export-control eligibility requirement are [TBD] pending business and HR confirmation.

Desired Qualifications

· Master's deg