Application Engineer

Role Purpose

This role is established to support business growth and customer adoption for Corning’s Optical Materials business in China. The position serves as a key technical and business interface between customers, the commercial team, and Corning’s internal cross-functional organizations.

The Application Engineer is responsible for supporting customer engagement across the full cycle of application development, qualification, and business expansion. This role helps customers evaluate and implement Corning’s Optical Materials solutions in target applications such as semiconductor equipment, metrology, inspection, industrial optics, and other precision optical systems. At the same time, the role is expected to work closely with Sales to accelerate opportunity conversion, coordinate internal support, and improve responsiveness to customer and commercial needs.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide application engineering support for Corning’s Optical Materials products across customers and growth opportunities in China.
• Support the commercial team in driving customer adoption, qualification, and expansion of Optical Materials products in target applications such as semiconductor equipment, metrology, inspection, and precision optical systems.
• Serve as a key customer-facing technical resource, engaging with customer teams on application requirements, material selection, technical discussions, qualification activities, and issue resolution.
• Understand customer application needs and translate them into clear technical and business inputs for internal teams, including Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, R&D, and Product Line Management.
• Work closely with Sales to support customer visits, technical reviews, sampling plans, qualification timelines, and follow-up actions that help move opportunities toward commercial success.
• Coordinate internal resources to ensure timely support for customer programs, especially where alignment is needed across factory, engineering, quality, and supply organizations.
• Help strengthen factory support for commercial priorities by improving communication of customer requirements, urgency, and business impact.
• Troubleshoot application and product-related issues, drive root cause analysis where needed, and coordinate practical solutions to support customer satisfaction and business continuity.
• Identify new application opportunities by analyzing customer roadmaps, technology trends, application requirements, and market developments relevant to Optical Materials.
• Collect and communicate customer, market, and competitive insights to support business strategy, product planning, and opportunity prioritization.
• Provide regular updates to regional leadership and commercial teams on project status, qualification progress, technical risks, and internal support needs.
• Represent Corning professionally at customer sites, technical workshops, and industry events, with travel as required.

Experiences/Education - Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science, Physics, Optics, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related technical field; a master’s degree is a plus.
• Minimum of 5+ years of experience in application engineering, technical service, product engineering, or a customer-facing technical role in Optical Materials, specialty materials, optics, semiconductor, or related industries.
• Experience supporting customer qualification, technical engagement, and application development in B2B industrial or high-tech markets.
• Familiarity with applications in areas such as semiconductor equipment, metrology, inspection, industrial optics, or precision optical components is highly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a matrixed multinational environment with cross-functional and cross-regional collaboration.
• Fluent in spoken and written English.
• Good technical understanding of Optical Materials and their use in demanding semiconductor, metrology, industrial, or optical applications.
• Ability to understand customer application requirements and convert them into actionable internal priorities and support plans.
• Strong business support mindset, with the ability to work closely with Sales to advance opportunities and support customer growth.
• Strong coordination skills, with the ability to mobilize internal resources and improve alignment across commercial, technical, and manufacturing teams.
• Problem-solving skills with the ability to assess technical issues, coordinate follow-up, and drive timely resolution.
• Project management capability to handle multiple customer opportunities, qualification activities, and internal action items in parallel.
• Effective communication and presentation skills for engaging customer engineers, commercial teams, and internal stakeholders.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build trust with customers, factory teams, and cross-functional partners.
• Willingness and ability to travel within China as required.

Experiences/Education - Desired

• Customer-oriented and responsive, with strong awareness of business priorities and urgency.
• Proactive and action-driven, with the ability to push for progress and follow through on open items.
• Capable of balancing technical depth with practical business support.
• Able to work effectively across organizations, functions, and cultures.
• Strong ownership and learning agility in a dynamic and evolving business environment.