Head of Equipment & Facilities Engineering

ENSURGE•San Jose, CA

14d•Onsite

About The Position

Ensurge is seeking a Head of Equipment & Facilities Engineering to own the availability, reliability, and scalability of manufacturing equipment and facility infrastructure. This is a player–coach role spanning equipment engineering, maintenance, and facilities, responsible for keeping tools running today while designing systems that will scale tomorrow. Reporting to the COO, this leader partners tightly with Manufacturing Engineering and Technology to ensure equipment and infrastructure are fit-for-purpose, maintainable, and production-ready at every roadmap milestone. This role directly impacts uptime, yield, safety, and delivery — and requires someone who can troubleshoot at the tool, coach engineers and technicians, and set the long-term technical direction. As Ensurge transitions from technology development into disciplined pilot manufacturing and scale, equipment reliability and facility robustness become mission-critical differentiators.

Requirements

Proven experience leading equipment and facilities engineering in advanced manufacturing environments (semiconductor, battery, thin film, electronics, or similar)
Strong hands-on background with complex manufacturing equipment and infrastructure
Experience building reliability and maintenance systems from immature or reactive states
Comfortable operating as both technical expert and people leader
Able to prioritize under pressure without losing sight of long-term system health
Located in, or willing to regularly work on-site in, the San Jose area

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting pilot fabs or first-of-kind manufacturing lines
Familiarity with vacuum systems, deposition tools, roll-to-roll equipment, or cleanroom operations
Experience scaling facilities and infrastructure in constrained or leased environments
Background implementing CMMS, spare parts strategies, and reliability KPIs
BS/MS in Engineering or equivalent practical experience
Player–coach mentality — leads from the front and builds others up
Calm under pressure, decisive in ambiguity
Deep sense of ownership — treats uptime and safety as personal responsibilities
Collaborative, low-ego, and trusted across functions
Disciplined problem solver with a bias toward action and learning

Responsibilities

Own equipment performance across pilot and production lines (uptime, availability, MTBF, MTTR)
Act as escalation point for complex tool issues — hands-on when needed
Define equipment standards, maintenance strategies, and spare parts philosophy
Lead equipment qualification, acceptance, and process handoff in partnership with Manufacturing Engineering
Drive root cause analysis and corrective actions for chronic equipment issues
Build and lead a disciplined preventive and predictive maintenance program
Establish clear ownership between engineering and maintenance without silos
Develop technician capability through training, documentation, and coaching
Implement CMMS discipline and data-driven maintenance prioritization
Balance firefighting with long-term reliability improvements
Own critical facility systems: utilities, vacuum, gases, HVAC, cleanroom, safety systems
Ensure facilities support current processes and future scale requirements
Partner with landlords, contractors, and vendors on upgrades and expansions
Lead site readiness for audits, safety reviews, and regulatory compliance
Proactively identify infrastructure risks that could limit throughput or yield
Partner with Manufacturing Engineering on tool/process matching and readiness
Support Technology (R&D) during early tool development and process experimentation
Enable Operations with stable, well-documented equipment and escalation paths
Align Quality, EHS, and Facilities requirements into daily execution
Build the equipment and facilities roadmap aligned to product and capacity plans
Support CapEx planning, vendor selection, FAT/SAT, and installation
Ensure lessons learned from pilot tools feed into next-generation designs
Prepare Ensurge for future site expansions or transitions with minimal disruption
Lead, mentor, and develop equipment engineers, facilities engineers, and technicians
Set expectations for rigor, urgency, and ownership
Establish clear roles, on-call structures, and escalation models
Model hands-on leadership — present at the gemba when it matters most