Lighthouse Professional Services, a division of Staffing 360 Solutions group of companies, has been providing contract and direct hire talent to client companies, ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations for over 50 years. Our offices are in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and we work with clients across the country. Our management and recruiting teams are led by experienced industry professionals. We invest in excellent working partnerships, powered by people.

Lighthouse Professional Services committed to the success of the companies, candidates, and employees we serve. We invest in excellent working partnerships, powered by people.

We are currently seeking an  Industrial Chemist / Plating Engineer in Watsonville, CA.

As an Industrial Chemist / Plating Engineer your day-to-day duties will consist of and may not be limited to located in beautiful Santa Cruz County, California, is a vertically integrated manufacturer of refractory metal thermal management materials and electron sources used in a multitude of devices in the communication, medical, and defense industries. We are working to become the leader in high-end thermal management materials.

As an Industrial Chemist/Plating Engineer in the thermal management division, you will spearhead defining new state-of-the-art manufacturing processes for novel thermal management materials. You will design and implement environmentally friendly plating and manufacturing processes, develop & refine highly capable processes for use in mass production, and become a multi-disciplinary expert in electroplating processes and thermal management materials. Your work will allow the next generation of high-power semiconductor devices to function at the level they demand.

You will own various production processes, such as electro- and electroless plating, DOEs for new product and process development, failure analysis, plenty of R&D, and a healthy amount of collaboration. In certain projects, external publication and presentations will be encouraged.

You will be primarily responsible for plating tanks, plating in-process testing, and supplies inventory for electroplating, electroless plating, and R&D plating.
You will augment process robustness by ensuring operators and techs are trained in all production processes and actively providing support during manufacturing; build systems to ensure that operator observations are noted and absorbed into the manufacturing process.
You will continually improve our manufacturing processes by multiple methods, such as using and further developing Statistical Process Controls to analyse process health, and by generally researching and implementing process improvements to lower scrap, increase throughput, and decrease cost.
You will also document & communicate work with precision, writing technical and production reports. They will be expected to generate accurate instructions for processes by integrating research of existing best practices and collaboration with the existing team.
You will manage projects and engineering evaluations when needed, including root cause analysis, FMEA, and Design of Experiments, among others. You will use tools such as a SEM, optical surface profilometer, XRF, hand metrology tools, thermomechanical testers, and plenty of collaboration.
You will work with chemicals and hot solutions in & out of a hood given proper safety equipment.
You will also have other duties as assigned – we are a small company, so most of us wear many hats.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

Incumbent will be responsible for all plating technology at our facility. Experience in metal plating or other electro-finishing is a strong plus, but we are willing to work with candidates motivated and committed to learn plating technology.
Hands-on experimental and light manufacturing work required. For example, the ability to repair systems such as electrical controls and pumps.
Knowledge of or ability to quickly learn in-house plating techniques, including electroplating, electroless plating, and cleaning processes.
Ability to understand all manufacturing operations within the company (powder metallurgy, tight-tolerance machining, high-precision grinding and lapping, plating, inspection metrology).
Excellent analytical, organizational, written, verbal communication, and hands-on skills, as evidenced by prior work experience. Experience with DOE, SPC and failure analysis methods are all plusses.
Able to collaborate with co-workers to prioritize and take initiative with minimal high-level managerial guidance.
Able to work with others across multiple departments, and work with all levels of co-worker from CEO to manufacturing operator, but particularly manufacturing operators.

Position Summary and Special Duties:

Requirements:

BS degree in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering, and up to 5 years related work experience.

Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science, Electrical Engineering, Physics and/or equivalent relevant experience also considered.

AA degree and 5+ years relevant experience can be considered.

Experience in chemical processing, coating or metal finishing is a strong plus.

DETAILS:

Duration: Direct Hire
Location: Watsonville, CA
Salary: Depending on Experience
Benefits: Full

Qualified candidates are encouraged to apply immediately!

Please include a clean copy of your resume and salary expectations and any references.