Senior Staff Engineer - Glass Melting System Design

Corning is seeking a Senior Staff Engineer, Glass Melting System Design to join our Materials Conversion team at Sullivan Park in Corning, NY. This is an onsite, Monday–Friday role. Travel is typically less than 10%, with periods of 20–40% travel possible during pilot work, manufacturing installation, and startup activities at global locations.

This position supports the development of new melting technology for future Corning glass products. As a senior individual contributor, you will design lab-scale prototype melters, research-scale melters, and pilot platforms from concept through commissioning and startup. You will use glass science, high-temperature materials knowledge, engineering calculations, and modeling to determine how new glass compositions can be melted and delivered at the required quality and throughput.

Key Responsibilities

• Assess the melting, fining, and delivery behavior of new glass compositions, considering glass properties, raw materials, throughput needs, and product-forming requirements to develop melt concepts for new equipment or processes.
• Lead the engineering design of lab-scale prototypes, research-scale melters, and pilot platforms from concept through commissioning.
• Perform engineering design calculations, including scaling analyses, to support new melter-system development.
• Apply knowledge of glass science, material compatibility, heat transfer, and differential expansion to inform platform design decisions.
• Use mathematical modeling, experiments, and observations to evaluate and validate melting-system performance.
• Collaborate with technicians, designers, and cross-functional partners throughout the development lifecycle.
• Provide technical input to the direction of new melting-system designs and support global installation, commissioning, and startup activities as needed.

Minimum Qualifications and Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science, Materials Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or Electrical Engineering with 10+ years of hot-glass or steel industrial design experience; or a master’s degree or PhD in one of these disciplines with 7+ years of relevant experience.

• Demonstrated ability to perform engineering design calculations, including scaling analysis for melting systems.
• Experience using material properties to mathematically evaluate heat loss, heat transfer, power requirements, expansion, stress, and failure under load.
• Experience designing direct-heated precious-metal systems, including high-temperature expansion and support, flange design, hot-spot avoidance, and stress minimization.
• Experience with direct-heated glass melters, including batch-feeding technologies, electrode/material compatibility, current density, melt-rate requirements, and melter geometry considerations.
• Deep understanding of how glass properties—including viscosity, resistivity, thermal conductivity/absorption, heat capacity, and liquidus—affect melting equipment, operation, and glass quality.

Preferred Qualifications and Skills

• Experience with two or more melting technologies, such as optical, float, all-electric, or electric-boost melters.
• Strong SolidWorks or comparable CAD experience.
• Experience with COMSOL Multiphysics or another finite-element/multiphysics modeling tool.