Careers

ABOUT US

Enhancing Performance, Productivity, and Profitability

Physical Electronics USA Inc. (PHI) is a subsidiary of ULVAC-PHI, the world's leading supplier of UHV surface analysis instrumentation. PHI’s innovative XPS, AES, and SIMS technologies provide our customers with unique tools to solve challenging materials problems and accelerate the development of new processes and products. As the only supplier that provides a full range of high-performance XPS, AES, and SIMS surface analysis instruments, PHI is in a unique position to provide complete surface analysis solutions to potential clients in a broad range of high technology fields including the following: nanotechnology, microelectronics, storage media, catalysis, bio-materials, pharmaceuticals, and basic materials such as metals, polymers, composites and coatings.

At PHI, our success is powered by people and technology. Employee appreciation and recognition, total employee wellness and shared celebration of company success are just a few of our top priorities. Employees enjoy paid holidays and vacation, as well as an unlimited PTO benefit to help balance work, life, and everything in between. Some of our most-loved benefits include department hosted lunches, employee-led wellness activities, on-site gym, employer contribution to H.S.A. and safe-harbor 401k contributions. Medical, dental and employer paid life insurance benefits are available. Student tuition reimbursement, ongoing education and training opportunities, and employer matched charitable contributions are also available to employees.

Physical Electronics USA is an Affirmative Action employer committed to providing equal employment opportunity to all applicants and employees according to all applicable equal opportunity and affirmative action laws, directives and regulations of federal, state and local governing bodies and agencies. In keeping with this commitment, Physical Electronics USA will recruit and hire the most qualified individuals without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, membership or activity in a local commission, disability, age, sexual orientation or status as a Vietnam era, special disabled, or or other covered veteran.

CURRENT OPENINGS (6)

Senior Staff Scientist – SIMS

PHI is seeking a dynamic and technically skilled Senior Staff Scientist with experience in secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) to join our Analytical Laboratory team. In this role, the scientist will serve as a technical leader in dynamic, static, and time-of-flight (TOF) SIMS for the company, providing advanced guidance and expertise for customer demonstrations, technical sales support, training, marketing, product feedback, plus method and strategic application development.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Own PHI's technical position on the SIMS competitive landscape, market trends, and emerging industry applications, serving as the internal technical authority and external voice on SIMS capabilities, positioning, and differentiation.
• Take ownership of the demonstration portion of the sales process: plan and perform customer instrument demonstrations, including sample strategy, data acquisition and interpretation, plus preparation of clear technical reports that communicate both analytical results and PHI instrument advantages.
• Provide technical sales support throughout the sales cycle, including responses to product questions, application feasibility assessments, tender documentation, and customer-facing technical discussions.
• Prepare and deliver technical training for PHI customers and sales personnel, including development of training materials and application-focused content.
• Create and contribute to marketing materials, including product literature, presentations, application notes, research publications, and conference content that highlight PHI SIMS capabilities and product differentiation.
• Conduct competitive product analyses, including evaluation of technical performance, application strengths, and market trends.
• Develop novel applications and analytical strategies that demonstrate the value of PHI instrumentation across advanced materials,
• Identify emerging applications, including customer requirements that may lead to competitive advantage through internal development or external collaboration.
• Mentor and provide technical guidance to junior staff, when appropriate.

Qualifications

• PhD in Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science, or a related field preferred with 7+ years of experience; Master’s degree considered with significant relevant experience.
• Hands-on expertise in dynamic SIMS and TOF-SIMS instrumentation, applications, data analysis, and interpretation.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical information clearly to customers, sales teams, scientists, engineers, and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing technical reports, presentations, training materials, publications, or marketing content.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with sales, marketing, product development, R&D, customer service, and international teams.
• Experience supporting customer demonstrations, technical sales activities, application development, or product development is strongly preferred.
• Willingness and ability to travel approximately 20%, including domestic and international travel.

Send Cover Letter and Resume to Jennifer Fredrickson at jfredrickson@phi.com

Senior Electrical Engineer/Group Lead

PHI is seeking a senior level digital electronics design engineer who can lead a small design group (5-7 members), coordinate activities with PHI’s contract electronics manufacturing partners, and be a technology leader in the design of custom, mixed signal, control and data acquisition electronics. The role will include hands-on design and prototyping (procure, build, test) of new electronics, personnel supervision, resource planning, and project management responsibilities. The electronics design group also partners with software and systems engineering in integration testing and provides consulting support to the system manufacturing and service organizations.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Provide technical and supervisory leadership to a small group of mixed signal electronic design engineers and technicians.
• Provide leadership in creating and managing strategic partnerships with contract electronics manufacturers.
• Translate system level requirements into unit level engineering specifications. Provide development cost and time estimates.
• Design, prototype (procure, build, test), document, and support mixed signal electronic controls.
• Manage the work assignments of team members; provide project planning input and resource estimates; work with our parent company in Japan (Ulvac PHI) and the PHI R&D management team to create the annual engineering plan.
• Maintain technical currency and ensure PHI’s state-of-the-art design capability through self-study, and continuing education.
• Partner with other engineering groups in managing system level design, integration testing and documentation.
• Provide guidance and support for continuing engineering for the current electronics suite for improvement and reliability.

Critical Skills & Knowledge:

• Mixed signal electronics design, test & integration
• Control and data acquisition/processing
• Low noise, medium-high speed analog circuits
• Medium-high voltage (200 v to 30 kV) analog circuits
• Knowledge of state-of-the-art PCB and chassis level electronics manufacturing technology and processes.
• Knowledge of best practice design for manufacturability
• Embedded control system design with micro controller use and firmware development (Raspberry Pi, Python, Etc.)
• Effective design project leadership: estimating, planning, risk mitigation, execution management
• Competency in modern electronic design CAD tools: circuit layout, circuit simulation, firmware development, C-language & Test programing
• Management acumen --- demonstrated ability to provide leadership and supervisory oversight of a small, highly technical design engineering team.
• Complex hardware/software system level design, test, and debug

Position Requirements:

• Advanced degree preferred
• More than 12 years of experience in design of chassis level, mixed signal control electronics for highly integrated hardware/software products; 15 years of experience preferred.
• Experience in the design of capital equipment for applications in scientific research or advanced manufacturing preferred.
• Occasional travel to business partner and customer locations, including internationally (<10 days/year).

Send Cover Letter and Resume to Jennifer Fredrickson at jfredrickson@phi.com

Support Engineer

We are currently seeking a Technical Support Engineer with a strong electronics background to join our team.

As a Support Engineer, you will be providing remote or on-site technical direction and diagnostic assistance to Field Engineers and customers in instrument installation and in resolving system failures. Travel to customer sites may be domestic or worldwide.

Qualifications

• Minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Physics or equivalent in a closely related field (Associate Degree or military training with directly relevant experience may be considered).
• Some experience in analytical instrumentation or vacuum technology is a plus, strong electronics knowledge required.
• Must be able to travel up to 25% (domestic and international) with some work requiring eligibility to work in a government facility.
• Excellent problem solving, troubleshooting, and analytical thinking skills.
• Self-motivated with outstanding drive for results.
• High attention to detail and dedicated to quality and excellence.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and an ability to work well in a highly collaborative project team environment.
• A willingness to work in an international context, partnering with engineering groups at PHI’s Japanese partner company.

Send Cover Letter and Resume to Jennifer Fredrickson at jfredrickson@phi.com

Technical Sales Engineer

PHI is seeking a Technical Sales Engineer to support complex, science-driven sales opportunities from early qualification through close. This customer-facing role partners with Sales, applications scientists, product teams, and service to qualify opportunities, develop credible solutions, validate configurations, and support custom solution requests.

The goal is to bring technical clarity, speed, and confidence to the sales process.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with sales to qualify opportunities early and confirm fit between customer needs and PHI capabilities.
• Be a part of technical discovery with customers to define applications, requirements, success criteria, and decision drivers.
• Identify technical risks, gaps, constraints, and fit issues that affect pipeline quality, forecasting, and sales strategy.

Solution Development & Positioning

• Develop application-aligned solutions using PHI technologies, including XPS, AES, and TOF-SIMS
• Understand competitive offerings, current market developments, and emerging threats to help position PHI solutions around our unique value proposition
• Create proposals, system configurations, and solution narratives for customers
• Participate in customer meetings when technical support is required
• Review customer specifications and requirements
• Address technical questions, objections, specifications, and requirements during strategic sales opportunities

Product Configuration and Quote Support

• Validate complex system configurations before quotation and order placement.
• Confirm compatibility among hardware, software, options, accessories, upgrades, and customer requirements.
• Coordinate with Japanese manufacturing teams on configuration rules, product capabilities, and constraints
• Maintain configuration guidelines and technical sales documentation.

Custom Solutions (CQR) Sales Support

• Support custom solution requests during the sales process by clarifying customer needs, requirements, constraints, and success criteria.
• Coordinate early cross-functional input to confirm feasibility, risks, and scope before customer commitment.
• Help ensure approved custom solutions are clearly communicated to execution teams at order handoff.

Cross-Functional Coordination and Knowledge Management

• Coordinate between sales, applications, product, service, engineering, and manufacturing teams.
• Ensure the right experts are engaged at the right time to support solution quality and responsiveness.
• Capture lessons learned from completed opportunities, prior CQRs, and special solutions.
• Contribute to technical knowledge bases that improve future sales execution.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Materials Science, Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 7+ years of experience in applications engineering, technical sales support, analytical instrumentation, or a similar technical environment.
• Strong understanding of ultra-high vacuum systems.
• Ability to translate complex technical requirements into practical solutions tied to customer needs and business outcomes.
• Strong communication, problem-solving, and customer-facing skills.
• Ability to work effectively with both technical and commercial stakeholders.
• Ability to contribute independently in a complex technical sales environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Working knowledge of surface analysis techniques, including XPS, AES, and TOF-SIMS.
• Experience with materials characterization, thin films, coatings, semiconductors, or related applications.

Send Cover Letter and Resume to Jennifer Fredrickson at jfredrickson@phi.com

Staff Scientist

PHI is seeking a dynamic and technically skilled Staff Scientist with experience in surface spectroscopies to join our Analytical Laboratory team. In this role, the Staff Scientist will provide technical expertise across the company by performing instrument demonstrations, leading training sessions, developing marketing materials, testing current instrument software and hardware, providing feedback for next-generation instrumentation, and delivering solutions to product challenges. PHI’s surface-analysis instrument portfolio includes X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS).

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide expertise in the operation and application of surface-analysis instrumentation.
• Perform instrument demonstrations, including developing appropriate analytical strategies.
• Analyze and interpret results.
• Prepare demonstration reports that clearly communicate analytical results and the strengths of PHI instrumentation to customers.
• Ensure instrumentation is operating to specification for demonstrations.
• Provide on-site instrument training at customer locations and tailor training materials to customer needs.
• Develop marketing materials for the surface-analysis product line.
• Support cross-functional activities, including software testing, preparation of sales tender documents, and corrective-action initiatives.
• Participate in new-product planning as both an expert user and a representative of the customer’s voice.
• Represent PHI by attending and presenting at scientific conferences.

Qualifications

• PhD in Chemistry, Physics, or Materials Science, or a master’s degree with three or more years of relevant experience.
• Hands-on experience with X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) instrumentation.
• Knowledge and use of other materials-characterization techniques, such as AES and/or SIMS, is a plus.
• Strong presentation and communication skills.
• Ability to work comfortably both independently and as part of a cross-functional team.

Send Cover Letter and Resume to Jennifer Fredrickson at jfredrickson@phi.com

Lead Software Engineer - Instrument Control

PHI is seeking a Lead Software Engineer - Instrument Control to own system architecture and provide technical direction for the software that controls PHI's advanced surface-analysis instruments. This senior individual contributor role combines hands-on software design and development with system-level architecture, cross-team leadership, mentoring, and direct validation on real instruments.

You will translate customer and user requirements into reliable instrument behavior, lead development across releases, and help ensure that PHI software is well-designed, well-tested, maintainable, reusable, and low-defect. You will work closely with software engineers, system testing, electrical and mechanical engineering, customer service, laboratory teams, instrument operators, and ULVAC-PHI colleagues in Japan.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Define and maintain the architecture and technical strategy for an instrument-control platform, covering instrument control, automation, user interface, data acquisition, and data reduction.
• Conceptualize customer and user needs into concrete system designs and product behavior; evaluate feasibility, clarify incomplete requirements, document assumptions and tradeoffs, and drive cross-product alignment.
• Design, develop, test, document, install, and support software solutions for sophisticated scientific instrumentation while remaining hands-on with critical implementation and troubleshooting work.
• Establish and reinforce standards for design-first development, object-oriented analysis and design, code and component reuse, testing, reviews, documentation, and release readiness.
• Define testing strategies using SmartSoft simulation, integration testing, cross-testing, and real-system validation.
• Lead design and code reviews, evaluating technical alternatives, risks, long-term maintainability, performance, reliability, and the impact of decisions across systems and products.
• Diagnose complex software, hardware/software integration, and instrument-performance issues through systems analysis, testing, and collaboration with engineering, laboratory, manufacturing, service, and field teams.
• Drive effective collaboration with ULVAC-PHI teams, including requirements clarification, system-test scheduling, operator engagement, validation sessions, and incorporation of actionable feedback.
• Create and maintain system architecture documents, design specifications, test plans, and technical roadmaps.
• Lead system-level automation, workflow, and user-experience improvements that reduce manual steps and increase repeatability, reliability, and customer value.
• Mentor engineers across experience levels through design guidance, code review, and technical coaching.
• Lead major improvements to engineering processes, testing workflows, tools, infrastructure, and productivity; drive blameless post-mortems and ensure lessons are incorporated into standards and future designs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related scientific or engineering discipline.
• Five or more years of professional software-engineering experience, including substantial responsibility for complex instrument-control, automation, scientific, industrial, or hardware-integrated software.
• Demonstrated ability to define system architecture, lead development across releases, resolve system-level ambiguity, and influence technical decisions across teams.
• Strong software design and development skills, including object-oriented analysis, design patterns, modular architecture, reuse, testing, diagnostics, documentation, and maintainability.
• Experience translating customer requirements into designs and dependable product behavior, including evaluating feasibility, risk, interfaces, and long-term support needs.
• Experience with simulation, integration testing, system-level testing, troubleshooting, and validation on physical equipment or similarly complex systems.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to adjust technical depth for engineers, testers, laboratory users, service personnel, operators, customers, and leadership.
• Demonstrated technical and interpersonal leadership: sound judgment, constructive influence, dependable follow-through, productive handling of disagreement, and a commitment to helping others grow.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing software for analytical instruments, semiconductor equipment, laboratory automation, robotics, motion control, data acquisition, vacuum systems, or other complex capital equipment.
• Experience collaborating with electrical, mechanical, systems, manufacturing, service, and international engineering teams.
• Experience creating system architecture documents, multi-release technical roadmaps, cross-team design standards, and post-mortem improvements with measurable results.
• Working knowledge of surface-analysis techniques or scientific-instrument workflows is helpful but not required.

Send Cover Letter and Resume to Jennifer Fredrickson at jfredrickson@phi.com