Color & Metal Finish (Anodization) Engineer
Yokohama, Kanagawa-ken, Japan
Design
The Apple Design Team is seeking a Color & Finish (Anodization) Engineer for the Industrial Design group’s Color Team. This person will be working closely with designers in color and finish creation to both explore and finalize intended color, texture and finish with aluminum and multiple metals.
This role will also work closely with manufacturing design and external vendors. This candidate will need to be on-site in Cupertino, CA or Japan, with very frequent travel to vendors in Japan and China.
Key Qualifications
- At least 3 years of anodizing experience in a professional capacity, and highly detailed environment
- Well known texturing process including method and materials behavior.
- Solid understanding of anodizing process and chemistry — surface treatment and materials and materials of the metals and alloys
- Experience with research in anodizing science preferred
- Chemical engineering background
- A keen eye with the ability to see subtle nuances and variations between color, texture, and finish
- Another material (plastics, textile, glass, etc.) knowledge is a plus
- The knowledge of thin film coating for optical industries is a plus
- Plating knowledge knowledge/experiences is a plus
- Excellent attention to detail and passion for quality
- Strong communication and collaboration skills required
- Curious, resourceful, highly organized, and self motivated demeanor
- Background in color science a strong plus, especially color specialization in matching and formulation of colorants
- Knowledge of chemical analysis methods
- Fluency in reading/writing Japanese is a plus
Description
- Work closely with the ID Color team for color, texture and finish creation, and development in anodization for light metals, and for multiple metal alloys.
- Accurately formulate, match, and create/develop recipes using image targets
- Corroborate and source and work closely with vendors for chemicals and colorants developing to support color and finish development as technical elements.
- Lend any creation and development expertise to internal teams as well as external vendors
- Formulation of environmentally friendly chemical replacements in metal finishing