Development Engineer III

First Solar (US)•Perrysburg, OH

88d

About The Position

First Solar reserves the right to offer you a role most applicable to your experience and skillset. Basic Job Functions: Perform material and device research to enhance thin film solar cell performance and stability and to reduce manufacturing cost. Responsible for projects or functions that are highly complex require significant innovation and are critical to department objectives. Plan, execute and characterize development engineering experiments in the laboratory and manufacturing environment with strategic foresight. Drives actions with strategic foresight. Apply statistical and engineering methods to optimize organizational effectiveness. Improve methods for use by others.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree in an engineering discipline or similar technical discipline and 10 years of relevant technical experience or 2 years of experience as a Development Engineer II at First Solar.
Master’s Degree in materials science, chemistry, physics or engineering discipline and 8 years of relevant technical experience or 2 years of experience as a Development Engineer II at First Solar.
Ph.D. in materials science, chemistry, physics or engineering discipline and 5 years of relevant technical experience or 2 years of experience as a Development Engineer II at First Solar.
Hands-on experience and expertise in a materials characterization laboratory environment.
Extensive hands-on experience with XPS, SEM, or SIMS, including instrument operation, troubleshooting, and method development is required.
Proven ability to use material characterization data (e.g., XPS, ToF-SIMS, AFM, SEM, TEM) to drive improvements in development processes.
Experience developing new characterization methods.
Experience in evaluating surface properties and interfacial interactions in thin film devices.
Strong sense of project ownership with hands-on and can-do attitude.
Strong communication skills and teamwork across organizations.

Nice To Haves

In depth knowledge of thin film CdTe and/or perovskite PV technology is preferred.

Responsibilities

Effective communicator with internal and external partners and customers. Effective team members that can support cross-functional projects and take ownership of sub-deliverables.
Prepare and analyze samples using relevant analytical instrumentation to evaluate material properties.
Interpret analytical data from multiple surface sensitive techniques (e.g., XPS, SIMS, SEM, AFM) and apply learnings to problem solving issues during project development.
Translate the results into an actionable item for the customer to drive improvements in a process or product.
Generate high quality technical reports and presentations to communicate results and recommendations to the customer.
Identify opportunities for improvements in solar cell efficiency, material selection and process/equipment design through engineering, scientific or empirical methods.
May be responsible to determine and evaluate material specification for improved performance. May be responsible to determine and evaluate tool/equipment specifications.
May train, mentor and manage junior and peers on specific subject matters.
Comply with Company's Environmental, Quality, Safety or any other policies that have been enforced. Contributes to continuous improvement of said policies.
Other duties as assigned.