Manager, Surface Finishing Engineering

About the Role

Lead and manage the Surface Finishing Engineering operation for jewelry products, ensuring that all finishing and plating processes consistently deliver the required product quality, appearance, durability, cost, productivity, and delivery performance. The role is responsible for developing and optimizing surface finishing Engineering processes from new product introduction through mass production, while driving continuous improvement, process capability, automation, chemical efficiency, and technical capability of the team. The position will work closely with Innovation and Product Development, Production Engineering, Crafting and Supply Quality, Chemistry & Calibration, Manufacturing Excellence, Supply Chain, and Production teams to ensure plating and surface finishing processes meet customer and business requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Surface Finishing & Plating Operations – Lead daily plating operations for jewelry products; ensure processes meet color, thickness, adhesion, corrosion resistance, and customer specs; maintain process standards and resolve production issues.
• New Product & Process Introduction – Drive technical readiness for new products; work with Product Development and Engineering to define finishing processes, run trials/validation, and support production ramp-up.
• Process Engineering & Continuous Improvement – Lead initiatives to improve productivity, quality, and cost; conduct root-cause analysis on plating defects; drive automation, digitalization, and smart manufacturing opportunities.
• Quality & Process Control – Ensure compliance with quality standards; address plating defects (color variation, poor adhesion, thickness variation, contamination, peeling, etc.) with corrective and preventive actions.
• Chemical & Technical Management – Partner with Chemistry teams to control plating chemistry and bath conditions; evaluate and implement new chemicals, solutions, and technologies.
• Production Planning & Capacity – Ensure plating capacity meets business demand; optimize manpower, equipment, and production flow; support ramp-up for new products.
• People & Leadership – Lead, coach, and develop engineers, supervisors, and technicians; build technical capability and a culture of continuous improvement.
• Safety, Environment & Compliance – Ensure safe, compliant operation of plating processes, including chemical handling and waste management.

Qualification

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Surface Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Physics, or a related field.
• 8–12+ years in manufacturing, plating, surface finishing, or electroplating.
• Experience in jewelry, luxury goods, metal finishing, automotive, electronics, or precision manufacturing preferred.
• Proven experience managing production and technical/process engineering teams.
• Strong knowledge of plating processes, process control, and quality management; skilled in structured problem-solving methodologies.
• Experience with, or ability to discuss, surface analytical results (e.g., XRF, SEM/EDX, ICP, XPS) is a plus.
• English, Thai and/or Vietnamese language skills are beneficial.