Contamination Specialist

Asahi Kasei•Charlotte, NC

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Celgard, LLC is seeking a Contamination Specialist to join the quality team in Charlotte, North Carolina. The position contributes to the facility's quality goals by driving continuous improvement in contamination activities and ensuring contamination control, cleanroom compliance, and manufacturing readiness. The role works in a team-centered environment and collaborates with cross-functional teams to support quality, operational, and regulatory compliance through effective documentation, reporting, and contamination control practices. It reports directly to the Senior Director of Global Quality for Celgard and does not supervise others. The position supports contamination investigations, audits, training, customer complaints, and improvement projects. It develops and maintains contamination protocols and quality documents; monitors particle data and contamination events; uses Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) camera systems to measure contamination samples; and reports results and trends to stakeholders, customers, and manufacturing sites. The role also supports product containment, contamination training at the Charlotte and Concord plants, and corrective actions and process improvements intended to reduce contamination and related scrap. The job is based in a manufacturing plant and requires work in a production environment around chemicals. The employee may travel up to 10%, mainly to the Concord plant for training and collaboration, with possible future travel to other company sites. Work includes standing and walking for up to 50% of the time and may involve lifting up to 30 pounds or applying force to push, pull, or otherwise move objects.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in science, engineering, technology, or a related field with at least 2 years of contamination control, environmental monitoring, or manufacturing quality assurance experience; or an associate’s degree in science, engineering, technology, or a related field with at least 4 years of professional quality experience; or a high school diploma with at least 6 years of professional quality experience.
Knowledge of qualification and validation, including documented testing processes used in regulated industries, and manufacturing quality processes.
Experience working in manufacturing within a cleanroom environment.
Experience creating and updating quality documents.
Experience leading continuous improvement projects.
Experience with SPC software such as Minitab or Power BI.
Experience conducting investigations and root cause analysis, and implementing corrective and preventative actions when required.
Effective planning, prioritization, and organizational skills, including the ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously.
Strong problem-solving and analytical skills with attention to detail.
Technical aptitude for understanding and using technical tools.
Ability to work independently under limited supervision.
Strong interpersonal skills that foster teamwork and conflict resolution.
Strong written, oral, and presentation skills.
Ability to contribute to a high-performing team where open and honest communication is the norm.
Ability to identify and justify cost-effective process improvements through data analysis, trend identification, and fact-based decision-making.
Ability and willingness to travel up to 10%, mostly to the Concord plant for training and collaboration, with potential travel to other company sites.

Nice To Haves

Certification through the American Society for Quality (ASQ) in one of the following areas: ASQ/CQE, ASQ/CSSBB, ASQ/CSSGB, or ASQ/CQA; alternatively, willingness to obtain one.

Responsibilities

Support investigations, internal and external audits, training, and continuous improvement initiatives while collaborating with cross-functional teams to maintain quality, operational, and regulatory compliance.
Create and implement contamination protocols as required by the plant or customers, and collaborate with the Concord plant to align contamination programs and actions.
Create and update contamination and other related quality documents.
Complete monthly particle checks and customer-required self-assessment reports.
Track particle meter data and complete root cause analyses for abnormal contamination events.
Manage the particle control system, including setting and tracking metrics in all areas and managing Charlotte’s Intellect (formerly Zaptic) Contamination Reporting System.
Use different types of Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) camera systems to measure contamination samples.
Review and report contamination results to stakeholders.
Create standard formats for customer reporting.
Support customer complaints associated with contamination.
Analyze contamination reports and material composition data to identify trends and drive process improvements.
Work with the maintenance team to identify and track metals used in each process and implement corrective actions related to metal contamination events.
Lead cross-functional contamination-reduction projects at the Charlotte facility to resolve quality concerns and issues.
Refine and implement cleaning tools and methods to drive improvements.
Create Engineering/Capital request projects to help reduce scrap associated with contamination events.
Track contamination improvements and present them to customers and manufacturing sites.
Help sort and contain non-conforming products in the plant to prevent shipment to customers.
Facilitate and track contamination training at the Charlotte and Concord plants.