Plating Technology Engineer

Your Job

As a Plating Technology Engineer, you will advance plating materials, chemistries, and processes used in connector applications. You will combine hands-on experimentation, materials knowledge, and cross-functional collaboration to evaluate emerging technologies, solve complex technical challenges, and contribute to the future direction of plating technology at Molex.

This position may be based at the Shizuoka Plant in Kanoya-shi, Kagoshima, or in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa.

Our Team

You will be part of Molex’s Global Materials Engineering group, a cross-functional team working at the intersection of advanced materials research and high-volume connector manufacturing.

Based in Japan, you will collaborate with Japan Research and Development, plating, Product Development, manufacturing, and global engineering teams. You will receive technical guidance from Global Materials Engineering and mentorship from Japan’s plating organization, helping connect local technical and experimental capabilities with global plating science and structured development methodologies.

What You Will Do

• Develop and evaluate new plating materials, chemistries, and processes for connector applications.
• Establish relationships between chemistry, process parameters, deposit structure and properties, and functional performance.
• Plan and execute structured experiments, including Design of Experiments, in partnership with Japan Research and Development, plating teams, and Global Materials Engineering.
• Translate customer and product requirements into plating technology development activities through collaboration with Product Development, Research and Development, manufacturing, and global engineering teams.
• Lead technical evaluations and root-cause investigations involving plating materials, processes, corrosion, reliability, and product performance.
• Identify and evaluate emerging plating technologies, regional suppliers, and technology partners in Japan, and assess opportunities for broader application across Molex.
• Contribute to the long-term plating technology roadmap by identifying capability gaps, development opportunities, and future technology needs.

Who You Are (Basic Qualifications)

• Experience in electroplating, surface finishing, electrochemistry, materials engineering, or related process or technology development.
• Hands-on experience with plating process development, experimentation, or technical problem-solving.
• Understanding of the relationships among process conditions, material or deposit properties, and functional performance.
• Experience planning and executing structured experiments, including Design of Experiments or an equivalent systematic development approach.
• Experience applying analytical troubleshooting and structured problem-solving methods to technical challenges.
• Experience working independently and collaborating across Research and Development, Product Development, manufacturing, and global engineering teams.
• Ability to document and communicate technical findings and recommendations.
• Native or business-level Japanese proficiency and intermediate business-level English proficiency.

What Will Put You Ahead

• Experience with connector or contact plating technologies, including nickel, gold, silver, tin, nickel-phosphorus, or related surface finishes.
• Experience with supplier qualification, new technology evaluation, or technology scouting.
• Experience using characterization techniques such as X-ray fluorescence, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, focused ion beam analysis, surface analysis, or electrochemical methods.

At Koch companies, we are entrepreneurs. This means we openly challenge the status quo, find new ways to create value and get rewarded for our individual contributions. Any compensation range provided for a role is an estimate determined by available market data. The actual amount may be higher or lower than the range provided considering each candidate's knowledge, skills, abilities, and geographic location. If you have questions, please speak to your recruiter about the flexibility and detail of our compensation philosophy.

Who We Are

At Koch, employees are empowered to do what they do best to make life better. Learn how our business philosophy helps employees unleash their potential while creating value for themselves and the company.

Additionally, everyone has individual work and personal needs. We seek to enable the best work environment that helps you and the business work together to produce superior results.