Material Scientist / Engineer (HAMR)

Location: Onsite at the Springtown facility in Derry/Londonderry, United Kingdom. Full-time, 39 hours per week; no travel required. Candidates must be eligible to live and work in the UK. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Company

hirify.global develops and manufactures data-storage products, including recording heads for enterprise and cloud-storage systems.

What you will do

• Develop, optimise, and characterise photonic materials and thin-film processes for HAMR recording-head wafer fabrication.
• Investigate optical, physical, chemical, and structural material properties and connect them to device and process performance.
• Develop thin-film materials including metals, dielectrics, magnetic alloys, and barrier layers.
• Improve film composition, structure, stress, uniformity, and functional properties through experimentation and analysis.
• Support sputter deposition, ALD, PECVD, etch, CMP, annealing, and metrology process modules.
• Diagnose material defects, yield excursions, and process instabilities while collaborating with engineering, metrology, product, integration, and R&D teams.

Requirements

• PhD in Materials Science, Materials Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Photonics, Nanotechnology, or a related discipline, or equivalent industrial or research experience.
• Strong foundation in materials science, physics, and chemistry, with experimental-design, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Understanding of composition-structure-property-performance relationships in thin films and photonic materials.
• Experience or knowledge in photonic materials, optical characterisation, thin-film deposition, semiconductor processing, or micro/nanofabrication.
• Ability to work effectively in a dynamic, high-volume manufacturing environment and cross-functional teams.
• Eligibility to live and work in the UK without employer sponsorship is required.

Nice to have

• Experience with PVD, sputtering, ALD, PECVD, or CVD.
• Experience with surface engineering, plasma processing, magnetic materials, or wafer-level manufacturing.
• Experience with TEM, SEM, XRD, XPS, AFM, ellipsometry, spectroscopy, or other optical and physical characterisation methods.

Culture & Benefits

• Mentorship for early-career PhD graduates and development pathways into technical leadership.
• Private healthcare, company sick pay, medical leave, income protection, and employee assistance programmes.
• Annual leave, flexible working hours, enhanced maternity and paternity pay, and bereavement leave.
• Contributory pension, life assurance, employee stock purchase plan, bonus scheme, and employee discounts.
• On-site gym, exercise classes, subsidised café, learning and development programmes, and employee resource groups.