Senior R&D Engineer, Advanced Electrolytic plating

MKS Instruments, Inc.; Gurugram District; On-site; INR 1,000,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Job summary

MKS Instruments, Inc. in Gurugram, India, seeks a Senior R&D Engineer to join the Advanced Electrolytic Plating (AEP) team and develop next‑generation plating chemistries and technologies for PCBs, substrates, and electronics interconnects.

You will lead bench and pilot‑line experiments, design DOEs, develop formulations, and collaborate with global teams to advance product development from concept to implementation while ensuring safety and confidentiality.

Qualifications

• 3–8 years of industrial R&D experience in electroplating, surface finishing, PCB manufacturing, or related fields.
• Bachelor’s/Master’s in Chemical Engineering, Electrochemistry, Chemistry, or Materials Science.
• Strong proficiency in JMP or Minitab; experience with ELN is a plus.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Conduct bench experiments and pilot line work to demonstrate new plating processes.
• Design and execute DOEs; manage projects with formal frameworks.
• Develop and modify formulations per business needs using literature and market research.
• Collaborate with local and global cross-functional teams; support customer sites when needed.
• Ensure safety, confidentiality, and proper documentation of results.

Skills

Industrial R&D

Electroplating

PCB manufacturing

Data analysis

JMP/Minitab

Project management

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering

Electrochemistry background

Materials Science background

Tools

JMP/Minitab

Job description

A Day in Your Life at MKS:

As a Senior R&D Engineer at MKS MSD, you will partner with the Advanced Electrolytic Plating (AEP) business to develop next‑generation plating chemistries & technologies for PCBs, advanced substrates, and electronic interconnect applications. You will drive innovation, solve complex technical challenges, and support the commercialization of new products from concept to implementation. Reporting to the R&D Manager, AEP, you will be expected to contribute and execute R&D activities related to product development, testing, qualification, troubleshooting, and process optimization. You will collaborate closely with local and global cross-functional teams and, when required, provide technical support to customers through consultation, process optimization, site visits, and troubleshooting while ensuring compliance, confidentiality, and safe use of company resources.

You Will Make an Impact By:

• Candidate is expected to work in the laboratory to carry out “on the bench” experiments and in pilot line to demonstrate feasibility and new products development. Contribute to R&D projects for development of innovative copper, nickel, tin, and specialty electroplating processes for electronics applications.
• Creation Design of experiments (DOE) and independent planning of Project assigned with project management frameworks.
• Develop and modify new & existing product formulations as per the business requirement while reading, using appropriate literature / patent / supplier searches / market research related to product development.
• Perform and execute assigned tasks in a timely and qualitative manner.
• Working and collaborating with other team members in laboratory environment.
• Bringing innovation mindset and own ideas and creative strategies to make product and processes efficient.
• Shall interact with cross‑functional team members - local and global.
• Open to new ideas, innovation and creativity would be demanded for effective and reliable processes development - Encourage self & team to promote R&D developments, research orientation, paper & literature study and writing.
• Support projects and teams with acceptable technical input in their projects & Literature search for new R&D projects. May write/present technical papers and patents. Investigate plating mechanisms, additive interactions, deposit properties, and structure-property-performance relationships.
• Exploring & Identification of disruptive technologies, new opportunities, read and be up to date with market, technology inflection in electronics and embrace research perspective.
• Transparent and regular effective communication of task completion progress to stakeholders.
• Self‑motivated and self‑initiated actions to maintain the work culture and task completion.
• Maintenance of 5S and safety as per the MKS MSD and departmental guidelines.
• Active participation in team building.
• Maintaining the confidentiality/IP of the projects and other Departmental information.
• Interaction with the customer to troubleshoot, process optimization, and site visit/conducting trials at the customer site (if required).

Skills You Bring:

• Technical Skills - 3-8 years of industrial R&D experience in electroplating, surface finishing, PCB manufacturing, or specialty chemicals. Bachelor’s/Master’s Chemical Engineering, Electrochemistry, Chemistry, Materials Science, Polymer Science, or a related discipline. Strong proficiency in software and statistical applications like JMP/Minitab etc. Experience in e-notebooks/ELN would be an added advantage.
• Six sigma (Green belt onwards) / Project management certifications would be an added advantage.
• Data driven mindset & Experience in statistics and data interpretation & representation – Gather, Visualize, Interpret, Conclude.
• Experience in working in chemical laboratories, developing formulations & qualifications. Basic understanding on solvents, polymers, reaction mechanistic, electrochemistry – key components, their reaction mechanism, molecular interactions. In depth knowledge of surfactants, organic and inorganic molecules. Tuning structure property relationships of organic and inorganic molecules. Synthetic knowledge of organic and inorganic molecules. Ability to analyze data and provide logical conclusions, document in the form of research report, present work in the relevant forums to team members/scientific audience.
• Soft skills – Strong oral and written communication, collaboration and team player skills Demonstrated ability to work independently and within team with a strong focus on delivering results and identifying alternative solutions when challenges arise. Quick learner, Agile, proactive; would have passion for innovation to create new products and add value in R&D Strong critical and analytical skills to ensure all aspects of projects are clearly understood, well documented and conclusive for the exit gate reporting. Creative, structured, methodical, and time bound workstyle.

Key Competencies:

• Innovation and creativity.
• Passionate about innovation and emerging technologies.
• Analytical thinking.
• Scientific rigor and statistical inclination.
• Project management.
• Collaboration and teamwork.
• Communication and stakeholder management.
• Self‑motivation and ownership.
• Continuous learning mindset.

Globally, our policy is to recruit individuals from wide and diverse backgrounds. However, certain positions require access to controlled goods and technologies subject to various export control regulations. Applicants for these positions may be limited (by, for example, their countries of citizenship, country of origin, or immigration status) where required by law or governmental contact, and/or employment made contingent upon the issuance of appropriate governmental licensing. MKS Inc. and its affiliates and subsidiaries (“MKS”) is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer: diverse candidates are encouraged to apply. We win as a team and are committed to recruiting and hiring qualified applicants regardless of race, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy‑related conditions), religion, age, ancestry, physical or mental disability or handicap, marital status, membership in the uniformed services, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, or any other category protected by applicable law. Hiring decisions are based on merit, qualifications and business needs. We conduct background checks and drug screens, in accordance with applicable law and company policies. MKS is generally only hiring candidates who reside in states where we are registered to do business. MKS is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities.

At MKS, it’s all about courage, big ideas, and a serious passion for innovation. Winning here is about exploring possibilities, taking action, and solving our customers’ toughest challenges. It’s not just a job – it’s what you make of it. While you shape your role and make it unique, we invest in you with on‑the‑job and formal training, as well as educational assistance. Curiosity is key at MKS – ask questions, own your path. Our success comes from celebrating the unique skills, diverse perspectives, and lived experience of employees from over 100countries. The goal is to make sure that everyone feels that they belong. Diversity isn’t just a nice‑to‑have; making sure everyone feels included is a big deal for us. Our group of ~10,000 employees serves semiconductor manufacturing, electronics and packaging, and specialty industrial markets. With over 3,800 patents, our products are enabling advancements in 5G, renewable energy & storage, artificial intelligence, cloud technology, and big data. We’re the behind‑the‑scenes support for some amazing technology. MKS Instruments enables technologies that transform our world.

MKS Instruments Product Overview