Technology and Facilities Program Manager

First Solar (US)•Santa Clara, CA

5d•$170,560 - $220,000•Hybrid

About The Position

First Solar reserves the right to offer you a role most applicable to your experience and skillset. This role leads project and program management for equipment (EQ) development, delivery, installation, qualification, and deployment within the Research and Development (R&D) environment. It provides closely integrated project leadership for the Mechanical Engineering function, including design maturity, build readiness, technical issue resolution, and cross-functional execution. The role interfaces and coordinates with Equipment, Process Development, Mechanical Engineering, Automation and Controls, EHS, Facilities, Finance, and other functions as required by the specific project scope. Additionally, the role is responsible for Facilities management at the R&D site, including contracted site services, operations, business processes, strategic planning, and daily operations, ensuring Facilities site services meet internal stakeholder needs, regulatory requirements, company goals, operational efficiency, and cost objectives.

Requirements

BS degree in mechanical engineering, automation, or mechatronics required
7+ years of project or program management experience, including at least 5 years leading equipment-development or engineering projects in an R&D, automation, pilot-line, manufacturing, or other high tech environment through design, qualification, deployment, and operational handoff.
Experience using MS Project or equivalent scheduling, resource-planning, risk-management, and action-tracking tools.
Demonstrated capability leading cross-functional technical teams and influencing contributors without direct reporting authority is strongly preferred.
Demonstrated project and program management capability for equipment-development and mechanical-engineering projects, including support for design reviews, build readiness, technical issue resolution, and engineering execution.
Strong understanding of equipment-development processes, including requirements definition, requirements traceability, design reviews, qualification, documentation, configuration control, and operational handoff.
Advanced skills in project planning and execution, including scope, schedule, budget, resources, procurement, risk management, dependency management, change control, commissioning, and qualification.
Working knowledge of automated equipment systems, including mechanical assemblies, motion systems, robotics/material handling, sensors, controls, controls, machine safety, utilities, and equipment-to-facility interfaces.
Working knowledge of mechanical design and equipment-development practices, including drawings, BOMs, manufacturability, assembly, tolerance management, and CAD-based development processes.
Knowledge of equipment safety, risk assessment, applicable codes and standards, root-cause analysis, issue resolution, escalation management, and continuous improvement methods.
Effective communication, stakeholder alignment, and leadership skills with demonstrated ability to drive decisions, accountability, and execution in cross-functional teams without direct reporting authority.
Strong proficiency with MS Project or equivalent project-management software; experience with portfolio-management systems is a plus.
Leverages technology, including AI and automation tools, to (enhance efficiency, decision-making, analysis, or operational outcomes as applicable to the role).

Nice To Haves

MS Degree in Engineering Discipline, preferred
MBA will be considered, but must have technology experience
PMP certification or equivalent demonstrated project management capability preferred.
Experience with CCPM, TOC, or other resource-constrained scheduling methods and corresponding project portfolio management software is a plus.
Experience of facilities management or similar role is a plus.

Responsibilities

Independently build and maintain integrated project plans for the equipment portfolio.
Owns overall project scope, schedule, budget, resources, risks, dependencies, and execution; drives equipment projects to agreed technical, safety, cost, and schedule objectives.
Manage contracted facility operations teams to achieve performance, cost, and reliability goals 247, including on call coverage.
Aligns stakeholders on project objectives, requirements, priorities, and decision criteria; develops mitigation and recovery plans when commitments are at risk.
Leads design and project reviews, tracks decisions and action items, communicates status, and drives timely closure of technical and execution issues.
Maintains accurate project schedules, dashboards, decision logs, risk registers, action trackers, and project documentation using approved tools.
Independently improves and standardizes practical equipment-project-management processes, templates, metrics, and governance appropriate for CTC.
Develop and manage equipment-project capital and expense budgets, forecasts, purchase commitments, and cost risks in alignment with approved plans.
Lead automatic platform and related mechanical engineering projects, ensuring safe, technically sound, on-time, and on-budget execution.
Establish clear responsibilities, deliverables, interfaces, and performance expectations for project team members and suppliers.
Build effective working relationships with equipment suppliers, fabricators, integrators, internal customers, and technical stakeholders.
Coordinate equipment reliability, maintainability, serviceability, spare-parts, and support-readiness requirements with engineering and operations stakeholders.
Drive continuous improvement using project delivery, equipment performance, reliability, cost, and issue-closure metrics.
Partner with EHS to ensure compliance, life safety system performance, inspections, and reporting requirements. Maintain a positive working relationship with regulators.
Ensure adherence to all safety policies, procedures, and housekeeping standards.
Perform other duties as assigned.