Staff Optical Coating Process Engineer - Santa Rosa, CA, United States
Originally posted 5 February 2026 by the employer.
About the role
This role supports a manufacturing cell producing optical thin film coatings for Telecom product lines, taking direct responsibility for the execution of coating runs across multiple chambers. You will oversee process management of automated coating platforms, analyze product and process results, and guide machine utilization to meet throughput, delivery, and yield goals.
What you'll do
- Execute and manage coating runs in multiple automated vacuum sputter deposition chambers, supporting throughput, yield, and on-time delivery. - Guide process change decisions involving Programmable Logic Controllers, Agility HMI automation, process control interfaces, and Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and database interfaces. - Diagnose and resolve process, product, and equipment issues across vacuum components including pumps, valves, feedthroughs, mass flow valves, pressure gauges, magnetron cathodes, and heaters. - Utilize automated optical monitoring systems to control layer thickness for optical coatings with up to 400 layers and interpret data from radiometric fiber optic measurement systems. - Develop new tools and processes for manufacturing new products, integrate them into production systems, and execute product qualifications. - Write and update work instructions for coating processes, measurement instrumentation, and software tools used by technicians.
What you'll need
- BS degree or higher in Engineering, Physics, or a related field. - 5 years of professional optical coating process engineering experience in manufacturing. - In-depth knowledge of reactive magnetron sputtering processes and their effects on thin-film growth and the optical, structural, and mechanical properties of multilayer thin films. - Working knowledge of optical thin-film design theory, design codes, and metrology for telecommunication filters. - Proficiency in at least one programming language for equipment control and data analysis among Matlab, Visual Basic, LabVIEW, or Python. - Practical experience with vacuum equipment operation, maintenance, and process troubleshooting.
Nice to have
- Experience with TFCalc.
Skills: reactive magnetron sputtering, thin-film growth, optical coatings, vacuum equipment, optical monitoring systems
This role has been open 221 days — well above the 72-day median for Process Engineering roles.
Process Engineering · Semiconductor Process
|
Open roles in category
1052
|
Median days open
72 d
|
Median salary
$137k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Coherent Corp | All employers we track in this specialty (1052 roles · 56 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 22 | 1052 |
| Open roles in the wider Process, Fab & Equipment family | 156 | 10096 · 107 employers |
| Median days open | 122 d | 72 d (+50 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $137k |
Skills observed across this category: reactive magnetron sputtering, thin-film growth, optical coatings, vacuum equipment, optical monitoring systems
Who's hiring in this category
- Micron Technology · 334 open roles · median 132 d
- GlobalFoundries · 88 open roles · median 89 d
- Applied Materials · 79 open roles · median 72 d
- Texas Instruments · 57 open roles · median 55 d
- STMicroelectronics · 50 open roles · median 48 d
- Entegris · 43 open roles · median 44 d
How we counted: 1052 open Process Engineering (Semiconductor Process) roles from 56 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 26 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Process, Fab & Equipment family row. Figures refresh nightly.