Senior Manufacturing Engineer

Viavi Solutions•Santa Rosa, CA

16d•$81,900 - $152,100

About The Position

VIAVI is seeking a Senior Manufacturing Engineer to support production thin-film coating platforms and processes. The engineer owns production performance of coating equipment and processes, investigating process and hardware issues, monitoring KPIs, and working with engineering and maintenance teams to keep systems operating efficiently. The role requires hands-on production-floor support during critical builds, ramps, yield issues, and tool recoveries, including containment, root-cause analysis, corrective and preventive actions, trial runs, acceptance plans, and verification of fixes. The engineer drives improvements in uptime, yield, and cycle time; requalifies equipment following maintenance or modification; and coordinates repairs and upgrades with maintenance, facilities, and external vendors. Responsibilities also include maintaining SPC and trend reporting, conducting designed experiments, leading Lean and Six Sigma projects, preparing work instructions and qualification records, and training production personnel. The position supports transfer of new coating designs into production and works cross-functionally with Design Engineering, R&D, Equipment Engineering, Maintenance, Quality Engineering, Project Management, Manufacturing, and leadership. Work is performed in a cleanroom and adjacent production areas, with gowning required. The role includes extended standing and walking, lifting up to 35 pounds (team lift up to 50 pounds), manual dexterity with small and fragile optical components, and close-vision work. Manufacturing hazards include high-vacuum equipment, RF and DC power supplies, hot surfaces, compressed gases, and cleaning solvents, managed under established EHS procedures. This is a day-shift position with a flexible schedule; hours may shift to cover critical builds, ramps, and tool recoveries, and occasional off-shift remote support may be required. Schedule is subject to operational needs. Applicants must be U.S. Persons eligible under ITAR.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Physics, Materials Science, or an engineering discipline; a master's degree is preferred.
At least 7 years of manufacturing or process engineering experience in thin-film vacuum deposition, such as sputtering, e-beam evaporation, or ion-assisted deposition.
Hands-on ownership of a production coating platform, including its process window, uptime, yield, and cycle time; running recipes or performing maintenance alone does not meet this requirement.
Demonstrated ability to isolate faults on complex electromechanical and vacuum equipment and drive solutions to completion.
Working knowledge of optical coating process control, including in-situ monitoring and ex-situ metrology, and ability to trace spectral results to process causes.
Working knowledge of PFMEA, CAPA, 8D, SPC, and DOE, plus Lean and Six Sigma skills and completed projects with measurable gains.
Track record of hands-on execution and cross-functional collaboration from leadership discussions through task-level execution.
Schedule flexibility to support critical builds, ramps, and tool recoveries.
Advanced Excel skills and experience with statistical tools such as JMP or Minitab.
Fluency in written and spoken English.
Must be a U.S. Person eligible under ITAR.
Ability to meet the physical requirements of the role, including extended standing and walking, lifting up to 35 pounds (team lift up to 50 pounds), manual dexterity with small optical components, and close-vision work.
Able to work in a cleanroom and adjacent production areas with required gowning and follow established EHS procedures for manufacturing hazards.

Nice To Haves

Experience with multi-cathode or cluster sputtering, reactive sputtering, or ion-assisted deposition.
Experience qualifying tools after major maintenance or upgrades.
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt certification.
Experience with AS9100 or ISO 9001 quality systems, and MES and/or ERP systems.
Background in aerospace, defense, semiconductors, or precision optics.

Responsibilities

Support production thin-film deposition platforms and processes, investigate process and hardware issues, and monitor relevant KPIs.
Provide hands-on production-floor support for critical builds, ramps, tool recoveries, yield issues, defects, and process excursions.
Contain issues, identify root causes, and complete corrective and preventive actions using 8D and CAPA methodology, including closing documentation.
Analyze production data, prepare trial runs and acceptance plans, coordinate with other teams, and verify corrective actions.
Drive tool-level improvements in uptime, yield, and cycle time; requalify equipment after maintenance or modification; and follow through on repairs and upgrades with maintenance, facilities, and vendors.
Maintain SPC and trend reporting, conduct designed experiments, and lead Lean and Six Sigma projects to reduce scrap and increase throughput.
Write work instructions and qualification records, standardize work across shifts, and train production staff on changes.
Help R&D, Product Engineering, and Quality transition new coating designs into production.
Collaborate with Design Engineering, R&D, Equipment Engineering, Maintenance, Quality Engineering, Project Management, Manufacturing, and leadership.