Staff Engineer, Thermal Process

Role Purpose

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Thermal Process Engineer with expertise in high-temperature material processing and precision injection molding to join our team. The ideal candidate will play a key role in designing, optimizing, and troubleshooting thermal and injection molding processes for advanced materials, ensuring efficiency, quality, and innovation in production. This role integrates experimental and modeling approaches to optimize process development while fostering an inclusive and collaborative team culture.

This role will help connect Corning’s extraordinary materials and process capabilities to new opportunities supporting new growth businesses from innovations in glass, ceramics, and other advanced materials. This position focuses on process development for injection molding and thermal processes to support new product innovation and manufacturing scalability.

Key Responsibilities

• Process Development: Design, develop, and optimize thermal processes for high-temperature materials specific to injection molding processes for lens products.
• Safety Practices: Actively engage in safety assessments/audits and ensure adherence to proper safety protocols.
• Experimentation: Plan, execute, document, and analyze development runs for injection molding and thermal processes, integrating experimental and modeling approaches to optimize resources and outcomes.
• Problem Solving: Analyze root causes by applying first principles and design critical experiments for fast learning and resolution of process challenges.
• Process Documentation: Develop and maintain process documentation, including standard operating procedures (SOPs), process flow diagrams, learning reports, invention disclosures, and performance metrics.
• Optimization: Monitor and evaluate thermal systems, injection molding equipment, and process performance to ensure operational efficiency, product quality, and compliance with industry standards.
• Innovation & IP Development: Document innovations and learning in presentations, reports, and invention disclosures while supporting efforts to grow and protect intellectual property.
• Collaboration: Work closely with cross-functional teams, including R&D, technology delivery managers, production, and quality control, to align objectives, secure resources, and drive process improvements.
• Sampling Support: Define processes of record for sampling runs and support the transition of new products and processes to manufacturing.
• Continuous Learning: Stay updated on advancements in thermal technologies, injection molding techniques, materials science, and industry best practices to drive innovation and continuous improvement.

Experiences/Education - Required

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related field.
• 4+ years of experience in process development, overlapping with the role’s scope.
• Expertise in glass melting, glass forming, ceramic firing, high-temperature material processing, and injection molding processes.
• Hands-on experience with thermal equipment (e.g., furnaces, kilns, heat exchangers) and precision injection molding equipment.
• Proficiency in the design of experiments, statistical analysis, and integrating modeling and experimental approaches for optimization.
• Experience with developing new products and processes and successfully transferring them to manufacturing.

Experiences/Education - Desired

Knowledge of powder rheology and finite element analysis (FEA) modeling.

Travel Requirements: 

• Must be available for significant travel, primarily domestic, to multiple locations to support business needs.  May require international travel as well.  Travel up to 25%.