Sr. CVD Equipment Engineer, Solar Cells (Starlink)

SpaceX•Bastrop, TX

11h

About The Position

As a Sr. CVD Equipment Engineer for Starlink’s solar cell factory, you will own the PECVD equipment used to manufacture silicon heterojunction solar cells at massive scale. You will work closely with the CVD Process Engineering team to ensure world-class equipment performance, reliability, and uptime. The process team focuses on film properties and cell efficiency; you will own the hardware, including tool availability, stability, and scaling production capacity. You will spearhead state-of-the-art production equipment for an internal solar cell production line, supplying high-efficiency, high-quality solar cells for Starlink satellites and Starship missions. The role includes installing, qualifying, maintaining, and improving high-throughput PECVD equipment; addressing equipment issues; and evaluating future equipment platforms for very high-volume production. You will work with facilities, process teams, vendors, and leadership to support factory performance and production goals.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, materials science, or another engineering discipline.
At least 5 years of hands-on experience owning and maintaining CVD or PECVD equipment in a high-volume semiconductor, solar, or other manufacturing 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 ITAR eligibility requirements: be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee, or be eligible to obtain required U.S. Department of State authorizations.

Nice To Haves

At least 7 years of hands-on experience owning and maintaining CVD or PECVD equipment in a high-volume semiconductor, solar, or display manufacturing environment.
Strong technical expertise in vacuum systems, RF plasma systems, 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 PECVD tool architecture and subsystems.
Experience with throttle valve PID tuning, leak-rate measurements, helium leak checking, manometer adjustment, and slit valve and actuator troubleshooting.
Experience with CDA-controlled valving and equipment.
Experience with electro-pneumatic robot and transfer module systems.
Experience with pyrophoric and toxic gas delivery and handling systems.
Experience with vacuum chamber clean optimization and RPS unit qualification.
Experience with RF 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 PECVD equipment for heterojunction silicon solar cell manufacturing.
Drive equipment reliability and uptime to support very large-volume production with minimal downtime.
Run experiments and analyze data to improve capacity (UPH), reduce tool-to-tool variation, and improve defect performance.
Develop and execute preventive and predictive maintenance strategies, spare-parts programs, and tool-matching protocols for high-volume manufacturing.
Lead root-cause analysis and corrective actions for equipment issues involving vacuum systems, RF generators, 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 PECVD tools capable of supporting 1GW+ per-tool-scale production.
Work with vendors on equipment design improvements, upgrades, and custom solutions tailored to heterojunction solar cell requirements.
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 factory state to leadership with respect to the team’s equipment.