Research Director, CCL

E Ink•Fremont, CA

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Research Director will serve as the founding technical leader and product design architect for a new Copper Clad Laminate (CCL) research and development program. This is a hands-on role that will personally lead CCL product and composite design, polymer-physics investigations, and definition of the integrated product architecture while establishing the technology strategy and development roadmap. The Director will initially lead three direct reports, work closely with them on technical execution, and build a broader multidisciplinary team as the program and capabilities mature. Direct, hands-on experience designing CCL products is essential. The ideal candidate combines deep expertise in polymer composites and polymer physics with strong product-design judgment, CCL industry knowledge, experimental leadership, and the ability to convert fundamental understanding into differentiated and manufacturable product designs.

Requirements

PhD in Polymer Science, Materials Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field; an M.S. with exceptional directly relevant experience may be considered.
Hands-on experience designing and developing CCL products is required, including direct ownership of material-system architecture, formulation, layer and interface design, prototype builds, performance tradeoffs, and design iteration.
Typically 15+ years of industrial R&D experience in polymer composites, electronic materials, CCL or PCB materials, or closely related product technologies, including substantial hands-on technical leadership.
Deep expertise in composite design and polymer physics, including phase behavior, rheology, viscoelasticity, morphology, interfaces, and structure-property relationships.
Hands-on experience designing formulations and composite structures, building prototypes, planning decisive experiments, interpreting data, and iterating designs.
Ability to translate functional requirements into material-system architecture, interface design, design rules, specifications, and manufacturable product concepts.
Broad technical knowledge spanning materials, interfaces, formulation, process integration, product characterization, signal-loss performance, mechanical and thermal behavior, and reliability.
Strong technical judgment and the ability to identify governing mechanisms, prioritize experiments, evaluate competing approaches, manage risk, and make decisions with incomplete information.
Experience leading small technical teams and recruiting, mentoring, and organizing multidisciplinary capabilities as a program grows.
Record of leading complex R&D programs, managing budgets and external work, and advancing technology while remaining actively engaged in technical execution.
Record of technical innovation, including patents or invention disclosures, and experience developing strategically valuable intellectual property.
Excellent communication and collaboration skills across technical teams, customers, suppliers, manufacturing partners, executives, and business teams.

Responsibilities

Serve as the product design architect by defining the overall composite architecture, material-system concept, layer and interface functions, formulation space, design rules, and technical tradeoffs.
Personally own hands-on CCL product design and composite and polymer-physics work, including formulation, product architecture, prototype design and build, experimental planning, data interpretation, and iterative optimization against product requirements.
Establish fundamental relationships among polymer structure, phase behavior, rheology, viscoelasticity, particle and reinforcement interactions, interfaces, composite microstructure, processing response, signal loss, mechanical and thermal behavior, and reliability.
Translate customer, application, manufacturing, reliability, cost, and supply-chain needs into clear product requirements and an integrated design architecture, with signal loss as the primary electrical-performance objective.
Define and lead the technology strategy, research roadmap, development priorities, stage gates, resource plan, and major technical decisions; evaluate competing approaches and make timely go or no-go recommendations.
Direct rapid design-build-test learning cycles, review experimental results in depth, identify critical knowledge gaps, and guide the team toward robust product specifications and scalable design solutions.
Initially lead and develop three direct reports with clear ownership across surface chemistry and particle engineering, process development, and analytical and reliability testing; recruit and build the team over time as technical scope and program needs expand.
Integrate material design, process capability, analytical methods, reliability learning, and product specifications while preserving clear execution ownership for each technical specialist.
Develop a strong understanding of the CCL value chain and establish productive collaborations with customers, suppliers, external laboratories, universities, manufacturing partners, and equipment providers.
Build the program's technical-review, risk-management, documentation, and intellectual-property practices; communicate technical recommendations, risks, resource needs, and program decisions clearly to senior management and internal and external partners.