Mechanical Engineering Leadership, Vacuum Systems

Atomic Machines•Santa Clara, CA

About The Position

Atomic Machines is building the Matter Compiler™, an AI-native, all-digital manufacturing system designed to build machines directly from code. The company’s first product is PrimeSwitch™, an electromechanical power relay. Atomic Machines is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, with offices in Emeryville and Santa Clara. The role leads Vacuum Systems mechanical engineering and builds the team and capabilities needed to expand the Matter Compiler’s manufacturing processes. The immediate priority is development of a physical vapor deposition (PVD) system. The work spans vacuum chambers and pumping, deposition sources, precision motion, thermal management, and automated material handling. The position owns development from concept through qualification and sustained operation. This is a hands-on leadership role. The leader sets architecture with technical leads, reviews designs, guides experiments, and resolves integration problems with process, electrical, controls, software, and manufacturing partners. The role also develops engineers and technical leaders, establishes engineering standards, and sets priorities for the Vacuum Systems team. An engineering program manager partners on planning, dependencies, and delivery.

Requirements

Technical leadership developing PVD equipment or substantial PVD modules through integration, commissioning, and qualification, with the system breadth to guide a complete tool.
Strong mechanical and vacuum engineering fundamentals, including chamber design, pumping and gas loads, precision motion, thermal management, materials compatibility, and verification.
Experience adapting industry designs and practices to new requirements, with demonstrated improvements in development time or equipment performance.
Direct engineering management experience, including hiring, developing independent technical ownership, addressing performance, and delivering across disciplines.
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering or a related discipline, or equivalent experience.

Nice To Haves

Delivery of complex vacuum equipment beyond the initial prototype into qualified operation and subsequent builds.
Hands-on architecture, design review, testing, and root-cause analysis, including work with suppliers and service teams.
Experience building the integration capabilities, engineering standards, and review practices needed by a growing equipment organization.
Experience setting direction, developing leaders, and making resource, supplier, or architecture decisions across programs or equipment generations.

Responsibilities

Translate process and device requirements into equipment meeting throughput, repeatability, reliability, and cost targets.
Build and qualify a high-rate PVD system, balancing deposition performance with vacuum, thermal, handling, and maintenance constraints.
Decide what to buy, adapt, or develop in house, using proven designs and focused experiments to shorten development.
Establish performance across representative operating conditions, maintenance cycles, and repeated builds.
Hire missing expertise and develop engineers and leaders who can independently own difficult technical work.
Set technical direction, resolve system interfaces, and hold the team accountable for equipment performance and readiness.
Prioritize technical risks, allocate people and resources, and make commitments grounded in analysis, experiments, and build progress.
Set architecture with technical leads, review designs, guide experiments, and resolve integration problems across disciplines.
Develop engineers and technical leaders, establish engineering standards, and set Vacuum Systems team priorities.