Staff Equipment Engineer

T1 Energy • Rockdale, TX

9d • Onsite

About The Position

T1 Energy is bringing solar manufacturing back to the U.S. by building a domestic solar supply chain. Our mission is to invigorate America with scalable, reliable, and low-cost energy. Our fully operational 5GW solar module facility in Wilmer, Texas, can manufacture more than 20,000 modules every 24 hours. We're focused on building advanced American manufacturing and we're passionate about engineering a better future filled with abundant energy. The Role T1 Energy is looking to hire Staff Equipment Engineers to own equipment engineering and maintenance for the major tool groups at our G2 solar cell fab in Rockdale, Texas. This is a senior technical role for someone who has worked in complex multi-platform equipment environments in high-volume manufacturing and knows how to keep critical tools running at peak performance. You’ve built maintenance programs, set the standard other engineers work to, and know what it means to own uptime in a production environment where downtime is never acceptable. You’re equally comfortable reviewing an OEE dashboard and getting hands-on with a tool that’s down. This is a single posting covering four tool groups, wet process, thermal, deposition, and screen printing and test. You’ll be assigned to the group that matches your depth, and you’ll be expected to work across the others as the ramp demands. Staff here means technical depth rather than headcount: you won’t have direct reports, but you will set the standard the engineers and technicians around you work to.

Requirements

• 7+ years of equipment engineering and maintenance experience in a semiconductor, solar cell, or advanced manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience in multi-platform equipment environments including wet process, diffusion and thermal, CVD and ALD, metallization, and related toolsets.
• Proven track record building and managing preventive and predictive maintenance programs.
• Strong understanding of OEE metrics and systematic approaches to equipment reliability improvement.
• Experience setting maintenance standards and mentoring equipment engineers or maintenance technicians.
• Hands-on experience with equipment installation, qualification, and vendor management.
• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own equipment engineering and maintenance for your assigned tool group at the G2 solar cell fab, covering a multi-platform tool set.
• Set the maintenance and troubleshooting standard for your area, and mentor the equipment engineers and maintenance technicians working on your tools.
• Establish and manage preventative and predictive maintenance programs that maximize equipment uptime and reliability.
• Drive equipment qualification, installation, and acceptance activities for new tool installations and upgrades.
• Own spare parts strategy and inventory for your tool set, and work with vendors to ensure rapid response to equipment issues.
• Monitor and improve OEE across your tool set, identifying chronic downtime contributors and driving systematic resolution.
• Lead root cause analysis for equipment failures and implement corrective actions that stick.
• Partner with Process, Facilities, and EHS teams to ensure tools operate safely, cleanly, and within specification.
• Engage equipment vendors at a technical level on failures, modifications, and hardware improvements that increase uptime.
• Support fab ramp activities including tool installation, qualification, and operator training.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior