PVD Equipment Engineer, Solar Cells (Starlink)

SpaceX•Bastrop, TX

10h

About The Position

SpaceX’s Starlink team is hiring a Solar Cell PVD Equipment Engineer to own the physical vapor deposition (PVD) and sputtering equipment used to manufacture silicon heterojunction solar cells at scale. The role works closely with PVD Process Engineering to ensure equipment performance, reliability, availability, and uptime, while supporting the scaling of production tools. The equipment supports an internal solar cell production line serving Starlink satellites and Starship missions. The engineer will work with facilities, process engineering, and vendors to install, qualify, maintain, troubleshoot, and improve high-throughput PVD equipment. Responsibilities include improving production capacity and defect performance, developing maintenance and spare-parts strategies, implementing equipment metrics and statistical process control, and evaluating next-generation tools. The role also requires cleanroom work, extended hours and weekends as needed, and domestic and international travel of up to 20%.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, materials science, or another engineering discipline.
At least 2 years of hands-on experience owning and maintaining PVD or sputtering equipment in a high-volume semiconductor, solar manufacturing, or related environment.
Experience safely handling flammable, toxic, corrosive, and/or hazardous chemicals and gases.
Must be able to work extended hours and weekends as needed to support production and urgent equipment downtime situations.
Ability to lift 25 lbs unassisted, work in cleanroom environments, and move between multiple production areas.
Willingness to travel domestically and internationally to vendor sites, up to 20%.
Must meet the stated U.S. citizenship, immigration, or export-authorization eligibility requirements for ITAR compliance.

Nice To Haves

At least 5 years of hands-on experience owning and maintaining PVD or sputtering equipment in a high-volume semiconductor or solar manufacturing environment.
Strong technical expertise in vacuum systems, sputtering cathodes, RF/DC power supplies and matching networks, gas delivery, mass flow controllers, and temperature control hardware.
Demonstrated success improving equipment uptime and reliability in a 24/7 high-volume production setting.
Experience with heterojunction (HJT) silicon solar cell manufacturing equipment.
Previous work at high-volume solar, semiconductor, or display manufacturing facilities; multi-GW or 300mm fab experience is a plus.
Deep knowledge of PVD tool architecture and subsystems.
Experience with throttle valve PID tuning, leak rate measurements, helium leak checking, manometer adjustment, slit valve and actuator troubleshooting, and CDA-controlled valving and equipment.
Experience with electro-pneumatic robot and transfer module systems.
Experience with target bonding and life management, chamber clean optimization, and power supply qualification.
Experience with RF/DC generators and impedance matching systems.
Experience scaling equipment from pilot to very high-volume production.
Proficiency with statistical tools such as JMP and Minitab, failure analysis techniques, and reliability engineering principles.
Strong project management skills and ability to drive complex equipment installations and qualifications.
Familiarity with high-reliability manufacturing standards for aerospace applications.

Responsibilities

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 for high-volume production; run experiments and analyze data to improve capacity, reduce tool-to-tool variation, and improve defect performance.
Develop and execute preventive and predictive maintenance strategies, spare parts programs, and tool matching protocols.
Lead root cause analysis and corrective actions for equipment issues involving vacuum systems, sputtering cathodes and targets, RF/DC power supplies, gas delivery, temperature control, and automation.
Partner 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 for heterojunction solar cells.
Establish equipment performance metrics, including OEE, MTBF, and MTTR, and implement statistical process control for hardware stability.
Ensure equipment meets cleanroom, safety, and high-reliability manufacturing standards.
Analyze production processes and machinery using a first-principles, physics-based approach.
Attend meetings to communicate the equipment team's factory state to leadership.