Optical Coatings Engineer
Apple
Cupertino, CA, USA
USD 147,400-272,100 / year + Equity
Posted on Dec 9, 2025
Apple is seeking an Optical Coatings Engineer to lead overall investigation on components to support display and optical sensing products roadmap development. You will work with suppliers and internal diverse multi-functional teams at Apple to craft the hardware technologies that go into Apple products. The team features a diverse engineering roster including optical engineers, materials engineers, mechanical engineers, chemists, physicists, human perception experts, and product design engineers. We work at a fast pace and require everyone to be highly self-motivated. A successful candidate needs to be a flexible thinker and be able to problem solve alongside a team with diverse multi-functional abilities.
In this role, you will develop and investigate optical coatings, thin films, and interference optical filters for improvements for our Displays. The role has ownership of technologies from R&D to implementation and will touch real products across our cross-functional teams.
- Investigate and develop optical coatings, thin films, and interference optical filters.
- Identify areas where optical coatings and films can improve display or optical sensing performance and customer experience, then design solutions to implement into Apple products
- Work with vendors to identify and modify key materials that can enable new optical coating technologies
- Take total ownership to drive technologies from R&D to implementation on real products with multi-functional teams
- Willingness and ability to travel internationally up to 15%
- BS in Material Science, Optics, Engineering Physics, Physics, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering or related field with a minimum of 3 years relevant industry experience
- Experience in optical coating process and equipment.
- Experience of optical coating and thin film characterization and metrologies.
- MS or PhD in Material Science, Optics, Engineering Physics, Physics, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or equivalent
- Hands-on experience and consistent track record in relevant areas in optical coatings, especially vacuum deposition coatings by either ion assisted E-beam evaporation or sputtering.
- Expertise in sophisticated process technology development, and associated equipments & process enablement including semiconductor manufacturing.
- Experience in design of experiments and corresponding statistical data analysis
- Demonstrated ability to solve complex material and interface challenges in a manufacturing setting
- Demonstrated knowledge of optical coatings design and its implementation into production processes including corresponding design rules
- Knowledgeable of thin film deposition and corresponding metrology methods (ex. PVD, CVD, ALD, XPS, SEM, TEM, AFM, and XRD, etc.)
- Understanding of optical coatings design, finite element analysis (FEA), light-matter interactions and corresponding basics.
- Outstanding written and oral communication skills in English
- Demonstrated ability to lead and coordinate a multi-functional team
- Experience leading domestic and international vendors
Apple is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We seek to promote equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant.