Materials Engineer - Ceramics / Piezoelectric Manufacturing

Interaction 24•Bellefonte, PA

4d•Onsite

About The Position

A market-leading manufacturer of specialty piezoelectric ceramics — in business since 1979, serving defense, medical, automotive, and commercial markets — is adding a materials engineer to support its textured ceramic program and PZT production. This is a hands-on role in a vertically integrated facility where you own work from powder through finished device, with exposure to advanced piezoceramic development alongside a nearby university research lab.

Requirements

BS in Materials Science & Engineering, Ceramic Engineering/Science, or a closely related field (Ceramics, Metallurgy, Chemical Engineering, Solid State/Applied Physics, Chemistry with solid-state emphasis)
3+ years of relevant experience; strong internship, co-op, or undergraduate research in ceramics processing will be considered in place of full-time experience
Hands-on experience with ceramic powder processing — milling, slurry preparation, casting or pressing, binder burnout, sintering
Familiarity with piezoelectric materials (PZT, PMN-PT, PMN-PZ-PT, barium titanate) strongly preferred
Working knowledge of materials characterization: SEM/ESEM, EDS, XRD, particle size analysis
Comfortable in a hands-on production environment with lab and hazard safety awareness
Clear technical writing and documentation skills

Nice To Haves

Experience with textured or templated grain growth ceramics
Tape casting and thin-film ceramic fabrication
Dielectric and piezoelectric property measurement (d33, impedance analysis, poling)
Statistical analysis, DOE, Six Sigma or Lean exposure
MATLAB, SolidWorks, or computational materials modeling

Responsibilities

Support development and scale-up of the textured ceramic program, bridging lab-scale process work into production
Provide day-to-day materials and process engineering support to PZT production: powder processing, milling, calcination, forming, and sintering
Troubleshoot process and yield issues on the floor; drive root-cause analysis and corrective action
Characterize materials and finished devices using SEM/ESEM, EDS, and complementary techniques; interpret and report results
Support post-sinter operations including electroding and poling, and evaluate dielectric and piezoelectric properties against spec
Develop, document, and maintain SOPs, process parameters, and work instructions in an ISO 9001:2015 environment
Partner with production, quality, and engineering on new product introduction and customer-specific formulations
Contribute to customer- and government-funded development programs, including technical documentation and data reporting