Work with facilities and process engineering teams to install, qualify, maintain, and continuously improve high-throughput PVD equipment for heterojunction silicon solar cell manufacturing

Drive equipment reliability and uptime to support very large volume production with minimal downtime. Run experiments and analyze data to improve capacity (UPH), reduce tool-to-tool variation, and improve defect performance

Develop and execute robust preventive and predictive maintenance strategies, spare parts programs, and tool matching protocols for high-volume manufacturing

Lead root cause analysis and corrective actions on all equipment-related issues, including vacuum systems, sputtering cathodes/targets, RF/DC power supplies, gas delivery, temperature control, and automation

Partner closely with Process Engineers to implement new process requirements on existing and future equipment platforms

Evaluate and select next-generation high-throughput PVD tools capable of supporting 1GW+ per tool scale production

Work with vendors on equipment design improvements, upgrades, and custom solutions tailored to heterojunction solar cell requirements

Establish equipment performance metrics (OEE, MTBF, MTTR) and implement statistical process control for hardware stability

Ensure all equipment meets cleanroom, safety, and high-reliability manufacturing standards

Analyze production processes and machinery from a first principles, physics-based approach

Attend meetings to communicate factory state to leadership with respect to the team’s equipment

PVD Equipment Engineer, Solar Cells (Starlink)

Responsibilities

Qualification

Required

Preferred

Company

SpaceX

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