Director of Reactor Development

Diamond Foundry; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 340,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Retirement plans

Paid time off

Employee discounts

Job summary

Diamond Foundry in San Francisco, CA seeks a Director of Reactor Development to lead design, development, and scale-up of advanced plasma reactor platforms for next‑gen diamond growth technology. You will drive architecture, subsystems, and manufacturability while building world-class engineering teams.

You will partner with process development, materials science, facilities, and executive leadership to transition reactor platforms from R&D to production, ensuring reliability and performance.

Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, or related field.
• 10+ years of experience in semiconductor equipment, plasma systems, including microwave plasma, vacuum systems, thin film deposition, crystal growth, or advanced manufacturing technologies.
• 5+ years leading complex hardware engineering teams.
• Strong technical background in plasma processing, vacuum systems, thermal systems, or high-temperature process equipment with emphasis on theory and empirical performance.
• Demonstrated success scaling complex systems from R&D into manufacturing.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of next-generation plasma/CVD reactor systems focused on performance, reliability, scalability, and manufacturability.
• Drive reactor architecture and subsystem integration across plasma, vacuum, thermal, gas delivery, controls, and mechanical systems.
• Build and lead multidisciplinary engineering teams across mechanical, electrical, process, and systems engineering.
• Establish structured engineering and validation processes, including design reviews, failure analysis, and reliability methodologies.
• Partner closely with manufacturing and operations teams to transition reactor platforms into production.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with process development, materials science, facilities, and executive leadership teams.

Skills

Leadership

Team management

Cross-functional leadership

Systems thinking

Technical depth

Education

MS or PhD in Engineering/Physics/Materials Science

Tools

Plasma systems

Microwave plasma

Vacuum systems

Thin film deposition

Crystal growth

Job description

Diamond Foundry Inc. is solving the thermal limitation at the foundation of today's most exciting tech industries -- AI & cloud compute, electric-car power electronics, and 5G/6G wireless. We have managed to produce the world's first single-crystal diamond wafers and are now on a mission to put a diamondbehind every chip. We are the rare unicorn that has grown fast and profitably. We received $515m in funding and are executing a multi-$B expansion plan for one of the greenest forms of tech manufacturing: converting greenhouse gas into diamond wafers using zero-emission energy.

Diamond Foundry is seeking a Director of Reactor Development to lead the design, development, and scale-up of advanced plasma reactor platforms supporting next-generation diamond growth technology.

This leader will manage multidisciplinary engineering teams responsible for reactor architecture, subsystem integration, process scalability, and manufacturing transfer. The ideal candidate brings deep experience in semiconductor capital equipment, plasma processing, or advanced manufacturing systems, along with a track record of delivering complex hardware from development through production.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of next-generation plasma/CVD reactor systems focused on performance, reliability, scalability, and manufacturability.
• Drive reactor architecture and subsystem integration across plasma, vacuum, thermal, gas delivery, controls, and mechanical systems.
• Build and lead multidisciplinary engineering teams across mechanical, electrical, process, and systems engineering.
• Establish structured engineering and validation processes, including design reviews, failure analysis, and reliability methodologies.
• Partner closely with manufacturing and operations teams to transition reactor platforms into production.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with process development, materials science, facilities, and executive leadership teams.

Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, or related technical field.
• 10+ years of experience in semiconductor equipment, plasma systems, including microwave plasma, vacuum systems, thin film deposition, crystal growth, or advanced manufacturing technologies.
• 5+ years leading complex hardware engineering teams.
• Strong technical background in plasma processing, vacuum systems, thermal systems, or high-temperature process equipment with an emphasis on both developing and optimizing the theoretical models and empirically demonstrating correlating performance.
• Demonstrated success scaling complex systems from R&D into manufacturing.

Diamond Foundry believes in supporting our employees from the workplace to their personal and home life. We provide eligible employees with an opportunity to enroll in a variety of benefit programs, generally including health insurance, flexible spending accounts, retirement savings plans, life and disability insurance programs, and a number of programs that provide for both paid and unpaid time away from work. Perks include employee discounts to VRAI. Our benefits begin as early as your first day of employment. Medical and vision coverage are retroactive to your start date, while dental and voluntary benefits take effect once you've completed your enrollment.

Diamond Foundry is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected factor under federal, state or local law.

Diamond Foundry Inc. is committed to operating in full compliance with all applicable state and federal laws. Our commitment extends to ensuring that our manufacturing and engineering departments adhere to the highest standards of legal and regulatory compliance. Additionally, these departments may have specific physical requirements to ensure the safety and efficiency of our operations. We prioritize the well-being of our employees and strive to create a work environment that promotes both legal compliance and the optimal functioning of our manufacturing and engineering processes.

Manufacturing and Engineering Departments Physical Requirements:

-Use appropriate PPE and follow all safety policies, practices, and procedures.

-This position will often: Sit, stand for long periods, walk, grasp, reach with hands and arms, lift below and above shoulders, bend, twist at the waist, climb, balance, stoop, squat, kneel, crawl, talk, hear, see, use fine finger manipulation, and complete repetitive motions.

-Some tasks may require the use of ladders or stairs

-Some tasks may require driving or the use of foot controls

-Lift/carry and push/pull up to 50 pound

This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S.

If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you, including terminating your employment.

Employers can only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the Form I-9.