Optical Thin Film Coating Engineer

Apple

1d • Onsite

About The Position

At Apple, we believe our products begin with our people. By hiring a team with varied strengths, we drive creative thought. By giving that team everything they need, we drive innovation. By hiring incredible engineers, we drive precision. And through our collaborative process, we build memorable experiences for our customers. These elements come together to make Apple an amazing environment for motivated people to do the greatest work of their lives. You will become part of a hands-on development team that sets the standard in cultivating excellence, creativity and innovation. Will you help us design the next generation of revolutionary Apple products As a member of the Coating Materials Product Design Team, you will be based in the heart of Apple's optical thin film coating manufacturing and development ecosystem, working directly with equipment partners, contract manufacturers, and cross-functional peers to accelerate development progress and ship industry leading coatings. You will play an active role in coating evaluation, characterization, and data analysis. You will drive vendor technical discussions, support qualification of coatings into Apple products, and help ensure that data collected from development and production processes is rigorous and fit for purpose, including supporting calibration of material and process simulation models. You’ll also support and contribute to optical thin film coating design and will work closely with the broader global team to define and drive strategic efforts, and surface in-region insights for faster, better decisions. This role involves significant travel, including domestic travel within China, periodic travel to Japan, and occasional travel to the US.

Requirements

• MS or PhD in Physics, Optical Sciences, Material Science or related fields
• 5+ years relevant experience in optical thin film coating or related process development
• Expertise in thin film deposition processes and equipment, especially sputtering and evaporation
• Experience with thin film characterization methods and statistical data analysis
• Strong technical communication skills in both Mandarin and English
• Ability to work effectively across time zones and cultures as part of a distributed team
• Willingness and ability to travel significantly, including domestically within China as well as to Japan and the US

Nice To Haves

• Experience designing thin film interference coatings, including with commercial design packages and numerical optimization methods with cosmetic and functional requirements
• Experience working with or managing external coating vendors and contract manufacturers
• Familiarity with process simulation or modeling tools, and experience with structured data collection for model calibration
• Experience in consumer electronics environment
• Familiarity with AI-assisted design and analysis workflows
• Ability to code or script for analysis or modeling purposes
• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple vendor relationships and development workstreams simultaneously
• Proven ability to work independently while staying tightly aligned with a remote team
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills

Responsibilities

• Play an active role in coating evaluation, characterization, and data analysis.
• Drive vendor technical discussions.
• Support qualification of coatings into Apple products.
• Ensure that data collected from development and production processes is rigorous and fit for purpose, including supporting calibration of material and process simulation models.
• Support and contribute to optical thin film coating design.
• Work closely with the broader global team to define and drive strategic efforts.
• Surface in-region insights for faster, better decisions.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior