Surface Process Engineer & Chemist Scalable Coatings Equity

San Diego Stealth Startup; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

San Diego Stealth Startup is seeking a Staff Surface Process Engineer / Surface Chemist in San Diego, CA. This full-time role develops and scales surface chemistry processes, including cleaning, coating, and surface functionalization, with hands-on lab work and cross-functional collaboration.

The ideal candidate has advanced degree and extensive experience in surface processing, vapor-phase deposition, plasma cleaning, and robust manufacturing transfer, enabling high yield and repeatability in a

Qualifications

• M.S. with 8+ years or Ph.D. with 4+ years in a related field.
• Expertise in surface processing and process development.
• Experience with coating, plasma cleaning, CMP, vapor-phase deposition, and wet cleaning.

Responsibilities

• Develop surface processing methods: cleaning, deposition, coating, curing, QC.
• Scale vapor-phase deposition processes with emphasis on uniformity and manufacturability.
• Lead development, qualification, and troubleshooting of plasma cleaning processes.
• Specify and optimize process equipment and automation for manufacturing transfer.
• Establish process windows, parameters, and SPC controls.
• Design and execute DOE to optimize surface performance.
• Characterize surfaces using ellipsometry, contact angle, AFM, SEM, XPS.
• Translate lab processes into scalable, high-yield manufacturing methods.
• Mentor junior scientists and engineers.

Skills

Surface processing

Process development

DOE

Statistical analysis (JMP, Python, R)

Surface characterization (ellipsometry

XPS/SEM/AFM

Education

M.S. (+8 years industrial) or Ph.D. (+4 years) in Mechanical Engineering/ Chemistry/ Chemical Engineering/ Materials Science/ Biomedical Engineering

Tools

JMP

Python

R

Job description

San Diego Stealth Startup is seeking a Staff Surface Process Engineer / Surface Chemist in San Diego, CA. This full-time role develops and scales surface chemistry processes, including cleaning, coating, and surface functionalization, with hands-on lab work and cross-functional collaboration.

The ideal candidate has advanced degree and extensive experience in surface processing, vapor-phase deposition, plasma cleaning, and robust manufacturing transfer, enabling high yield and repeatability in a