Equipment Engineer (Thin Film) (53416)

Headway Technologies•Milpitas, CA

12h•Onsite

About The Position

The Equipment Engineer is responsible for evaluating, selecting, procuring, installing, modifying, upgrading, and maintaining tools and equipment in vacuum and thin-film manufacturing areas. The role analyzes equipment-performance data, prepares reports, presents findings, and recommends corrective and preventive actions. It also manages tool-installation and hardware continuous-improvement projects, with the goal of improving tool performance, uptime, reliability, yield, and productivity while reducing operating costs. The position is located in Milpitas, California, and reports to the Director of Equipment Engineering. The role supports the equipment lifecycle and works with engineering, maintenance, operations, and other groups to resolve equipment issues, prevent recurring failures, and meet quality, productivity, yield, uptime, reliability, and cost objectives. The engineer maintains technical documentation and spare-parts inventories, supports equipment recovery during hard-down conditions, and follows applicable ISO 9001:2015 processes and safety policies. Work is primarily indoors, Monday through Friday, in a Class 100 ESD-sensitive wafer manufacturing facility. The employee wears cleanroom attire and may encounter hazardous conditions, chemicals, fumes, gases, or loud noise. The work may involve standing, walking, bending, twisting, crawling, fine grasping, computer and telephone use, and occasionally pushing, pulling, or lifting up to 30 pounds. The employee may also need to work in crawl spaces, shafts, or other potentially claustrophobic areas. The schedule may change to meet business or operational needs, and travel between buildings may be required.

Requirements

Associate’s degree in Electronics, Engineering, Maintenance Technology, or equivalent relevant experience.
Five years of experience as an Equipment Engineer or Senior Equipment Maintenance Technician in a high-volume semiconductor manufacturing environment.
Hands-on experience with thin-film processing tools, vacuum tools, or related semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
Experience troubleshooting, repairing, maintaining, modifying, or upgrading manufacturing tools and equipment.
Knowledge of semiconductor manufacturing principles, particularly equipment engineering, maintenance, reliability, and process performance.
Knowledge of the equipment lifecycle, including tool selection, ordering, installation, maintenance, modification, upgrading, and continuous improvement.
Ability to analyze equipment data, prepare reports and presentations, identify root causes, and recommend corrective and preventive action.
Ability to troubleshoot, repair, and maintain thin-film, vacuum, and other semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
Ability to implement improvements that increase equipment reliability and uptime, improve yield and tool performance, and reduce operating cost.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
Effective verbal and written communication skills and ability to work collaboratively with contractors, consultants, employees, engineers, technicians, and management.
Strong problem-solving, troubleshooting, organizational, time-management, prioritization, and flexibility skills.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree preferred.

Responsibilities

Research, evaluate, and recommend vacuum and thin-film tools and equipment to improve uptime, reliability, productivity, yield, and operating cost.
Support the equipment lifecycle, including tool selection, ordering, installation, modification, upgrading, maintenance, and continuous improvement.
Analyze equipment and tool-performance data, prepare technical reports, present findings, and recommend corrective and preventive actions.
Manage projects involving tool installation, equipment modification, upgrades, and hardware continuous improvement.
Ensure tools are maintained according to established schedules and remain within required specifications.
Write, revise, and maintain equipment-maintenance instructions, procedures, and related technical documentation.
Respond to equipment-related inquiries and provide technical support to other departments and functional groups.
Support quality, productivity, yield, uptime, reliability, and cost objectives.
Collaborate with engineering, maintenance, operations, and other cross-functional teams to resolve equipment and maintenance issues, improve reliability, review and improve procedures, and minimize downtime.
Investigate recurring equipment or part failures and implement countermeasures to prevent recurrence.
Maintain spare-parts inventories at appropriate levels to support equipment availability and timely repairs.
Research, develop, and implement emergency equipment-recovery plans for hard-down conditions.
Comply with applicable ISO 9001:2015 processes and procedures and adhere to safety policies and procedures.
Perform other duties of a similar nature or level.