Finishing Process Engineer - Coatings & Polishing Expert

Williams-Sonoma, Inc.; Portland (OR); On-site; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) plan

Paid vacations

Job summary

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. in Portland, OR seeks a highly experienced Manufacturing Engineer to lead finishing and surface preparation across our lighting and hardware operations.

You will develop, optimize, and sustain industrial finishing processes for sprayed finishes, powder coating, polishing, and cleaning while ensuring safety and product quality. You will collaborate with Engineering, Quality, Product Development, and Supply Chain to qualify finishes, resolve production issues, and drive

Qualifications

• 10+ years of industrial finishing, coatings, or surface finishing experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated expertise with industrial spray finishing processes.
• Experience with single-component lacquers, catalyzed coating systems, and powder coating.
• Experience developing or optimizing polishing processes using manual buffing wheels, belt polishing equipment, and associated cleaning operations.
• Strong understanding of cosmetic quality standards and finish inspection methods.
• Experience establishing process parameters, work instructions, and quality standards.
• Experience troubleshooting coating and polishing defects.
• Experience leading process improvement initiatives in manufacturing.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the subject matter expert for all finishing and surface preparation processes.
• Develop and optimize finishing processes for new and existing products.
• Provide technical support to manufacturing facilities to resolve coating and polishing issues.
• Work directly with coating suppliers to evaluate new materials and improve process capability.
• Establish process parameters and manufacturing standards for sprayed finishes, powder coating, polishing, and cleaning operations.
• Support incoming, in-process, and final inspection standards.
• Investigate finish‑related quality issues using structured root cause analysis.
• Develop documentation including process specifications, work instructions, PFMEAs, control plans, and operator training materials.
• Partner with Product Development during new product introduction to ensure finishes are manufacturable and repeatable.

Skills

Industrial finishing

Spray finishing

Coatings

Polishing

Quality standards

Process parameters

Troubleshooting defects

Process improvement

Tools

Buffing wheels

Belt polishing equipment

Polishing equipment

Job description

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. in Portland, OR seeks a highly experienced Manufacturing Engineer to lead finishing and surface preparation across our lighting and hardware operations.

You will develop, optimize, and sustain industrial finishing processes for sprayed finishes, powder coating, polishing, and cleaning while ensuring safety and product quality. You will collaborate with Engineering, Quality, Product Development, and Supply Chain to qualify finishes, resolve production issues, and drive