VP Research & Development (R&D)

The posting, as MetOx International, Inc. wrote it

Empower Your Future: At MetOx International, we’re pioneering the next era of energy security and abundance through breakthrough superconducting technology. As the Vice President Research & Development, you'll lead the scientific strategy that powers our next generation of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) technologies. You'll define the research roadmap, challenge technical assumptions, validate breakthrough concepts, and build the innovations that will shape the future of electric power transmission.

Based at our global headquarters in Houston, TX, the Vice President Research & Development reports directly to the Chief Operating Officer and serves as the executive leader responsible for the company's research organization. You will establish long-term technology strategy, prioritize research investments, lead multidisciplinary scientific teams, and accelerate the transition of new technologies from concept through commercialization. Working closely with Engineering, Manufacturing, Product Management, and executive leadership, you'll ensure MetOx continues to advance the world's leading HTS technology platform.

Key Responsibilities

Technology Strategy & Scientific Leadership

• Defines and executes MetOx's long-term technology strategy to establish global leadership in high-temperature superconducting (HTS) conductor performance, manufacturability, and cost competitiveness.
• Develops and maintains multi-year technology roadmaps focused on increasing critical current (Ic), engineering current density (Je), in-field performance, manufacturing yield, and production throughput.
• Leads technology development through a first-principles understanding of superconducting materials, thin-film growth, defect engineering, vortex pinning, and process physics.
• Identifies and prioritizes the highest-impact scientific and engineering challenges, translating them into focused research programs with measurable technical milestones.
• Serves as MetOx's senior technical authority on REBCO materials, MOCVD processing, epitaxial thin-film growth, conductor architecture, and superconducting performance.
• Advises executive leadership on long-range technology investments, innovation strategy, competitive positioning, and emerging technologies.

Advanced Materials, Process & Equipment Development

• Leads the development of next-generation MOCVD processes that improve film quality, compositional control, deposition rate, uniformity, reproducibility, manufacturing scalability, and cost.
• Drives scientific understanding of precursor chemistry, gas-phase reactions, transport phenomena, nucleation, epitaxial growth, crystallization kinetics, oxygenation, and defect evolution during film deposition.
• Leads the development of advanced artificial pinning center technologies, defect engineering strategies, strain engineering, multilayer architectures, and nanoscale microstructure optimization to maximize superconducting performance.
• Establishes quan

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process monitoring techniques.

• Experience with computational modeling of thin-film growth, reaction kinetics, fluid flow, heat transfer, and transport phenomena.
• Experience with advanced characterization techniques including TEM, STEM, SEM, XRD, AFM, SIMS, EBSD, Raman spectroscopy, and related analytical methods.
• Experience leading federally funded research programs (DOE, ARPA-E, DARPA, NSF, or similar).
• Experience scaling advanced materials technologies from laboratory development through commercial production.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Strategic technology planning and multi-year roadmap development.
• Scientific method, hypothesis generation, experimental design, and data-driven decision making.
• Technology commercialization and manufacturing scale-up.
• Executive leadership across multidisciplinary scientific and engineering organizations.
• Research portfolio management, investment prioritization, and resource allocation.
• Intellectual property strategy and innovation management.
• Executive communication, organizational influence, and external relationship management.

Physical Demands: This position requires sitting at a desk and viewing a computer screen for extended periods while working or performing other office tasks. Ability to move around the office, including occasional standing, walking, and bending to retrieve documents, attend meetings, or use office equipment. Some light lifting may be required, up to 20 lbs.

MetOx is proud to offer competitive benefits including

• Health, dental, and vision available on the first day of the month following your start date
• 401(k) match
• Paid parental leave & adoption assistance
• Educational reimbursement
• And more!

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.