Wet Etch Equipment Engineer, Solar Cells (Starlink)

SpaceX•Bastrop, TX

About The Position

SpaceX is hiring a Wet Etch Equipment Engineer for Starlink’s solar cell manufacturing operation. The engineer will own wet chemical texturing and preclean equipment used to manufacture silicon heterojunction solar cells at scale, working closely with Texturing Process Engineering to ensure equipment performance, reliability, and uptime. The role focuses on hardware availability, stability, and production scaling, while process engineers focus on surface morphology, light trapping, and cell efficiency. The engineer will help develop and support an internal solar cell production line, providing high-efficiency, high-quality solar cells for Starlink satellites and Starship missions. The role includes installing, qualifying, maintaining, improving, and evaluating high-throughput equipment, as well as collaborating with facilities, process teams, vendors, and leadership. The position may require extended hours and weekends to address production needs or urgent equipment downtime, work in cleanroom and production environments, lifting up to 25 pounds unassisted, and domestic and international travel to vendor sites up to 20%.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, or a related technical discipline.
At least 2 years of hands-on experience owning and maintaining chemical process 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 pounds 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 ITAR requirements: be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident, refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or eligible to obtain the required U.S. Department of State authorizations.

Nice To Haves

At least 5 years of hands-on experience owning and maintaining chemical process equipment in a high-volume semiconductor or solar manufacturing environment.
Strong technical expertise in chemical delivery systems, wet process equipment, pumps, filtration, temperature-control hardware, robotics, and automation.
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 texturing tool architecture and subsystems.
Experience with chemical concentration control, bath lifetime optimization, rinse systems, dryer systems, and particle control.
Experience with electro-pneumatic robot and transfer module systems.
Experience with hazardous chemical delivery, handling, and abatement 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 texturing and preclean equipment for heterojunction silicon solar cell manufacturing.
Drive equipment reliability and uptime for 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-related issues, including chemical delivery systems, pumps, filtration, temperature control, robotics and automation, wet benches, and exhaust and abatement systems.
Partner with Process Engineers to implement new process requirements on existing and future equipment platforms.
Evaluate and select next-generation high-throughput texturing tools capable of supporting 1GW+ per tool scale production.
Work with vendors on equipment design improvements, upgrades, and custom solutions for heterojunction solar cell requirements.
Establish equipment performance metrics such as 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 factory equipment state to leadership.