Equipment Engineer, Wet Process

T1 Energy; Rockdale (TX); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

T1 Energy’s G2 TOPCon fab in Rockdale, Texas is seeking an Equipment Engineer to own a set of wet chemical tools and keep them running in a high-volume 24/7 production environment. The role is hands-on, with emphasis on diagnostics, repair, and data-driven decision making to minimize downtime.

You will work on bath life, chemical change-out, and concentration-control hardware, collaborating with Process Engineering and EHS to maintain safe, efficient operations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, or Mechatronics Engineering, or equivalent hands-on experience.
• 3+ years of hands-on equipment engineering in semiconductor or solar manufacturing.
• Repair experience on wet bench, wet etch, or texturing tools and components.
• Ability to read electrical schematics, P&IDs, and PLC/HMI diagnostics.
• Proven track record eliminating chronic equipment failures and ensuring safety with hazardous chemicals.

Responsibilities

• Own OEE, availability, MTBF, and MTTR for your toolset.
• Be first on the tool when it goes down and diagnose issues with clear data.
• Close root causes on failures using 8D, FMEA, and Pareto analyses.
• Analyze alarm histories and tool data to spot failure trends.
• Maintain PM schedules and vendor procedures, ensuring critical spares levels.

Skills

Hands-on tooling

Root-cause analysis

Cross-functional communication

Safety with chemicals

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor's in engineering

Tools

Wet bench

Pumps

Valves

Heaters

Filtration

Wafer handling

Job description

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. By the time you finish reading this paragraph, we will have produced two solar panels that will power American homes and fuel domestic AI. We're focused on building advanced American manufacturing and we're passionate about engineering a better future filled with abundant energy.

The Role

G2 is T1 Energy’s new TOPCon solar cell fab in Rockdale, Texas. Every cell we make starts in wet process: texture, rear polish, and glass removal. When these tools stop, the fab stops. We’re hiring Equipment Engineers to keep them running.

You’ll own a set of wet chemical tools, from install through high-volume production. The set covers batch texture, RCA-clean rear polish benches, and inline BSG and PSG removal strip tools. It’s a hands‑on role: most of your day is at the tool, and you’ll be trusted to make the engineering calls that keep it running.

This is an on‑site role at G2 in Rockdale, Texas, day shift supporting a 24/7 fab, with an on‑call rotation for critical tool‑downs, and cleanroom and sub‑fab work in full chemical PPE. You’ll be building a fab from the ground up: your PMs, your procedures, and your fixes become the standard, and the calls on your tools are yours to make.

What You'll Do

• Own OEE, availability, MTBF, and MTTR for your toolset.
• Be first on the tool when it goes down. Make it safe, diagnose the failed component, and restore it. When you escalated to the vendor, bring clear data.
• Close root cause on chronic failures, wafer breakage, and leaks using 8D, FMEA, and Pareto, and verify the fixes hold.
• Analyze alarm histories, maintenance records, and tool data in JMP, SQL, Python, or Excel to spot failure trends before they cause downtime.
• Own the PM schedule, refine vendor PM procedures, and set critical‑spares levels, then adjust both from failure history.
• Keep interlocks, leak detection, and exhaust and scrubber interfaces working on tools running HF, NaOH, and HCl. You’ll do this together with EHS.
• Work with Process Engineering on bath life, chemical change‑out, and concentration‑control hardware.
• Bring tools through install, SAT, and qualification into production. Document procedures and train the technicians who run them.

Who You Are

• A hands‑on equipment engineer who would rather be at the tool than in a meeting.
• Systematic about failure: you fix the cause, not the symptom, and you check that it held.
• Decisive when a tool is down and the line is waiting.
• A straight communicator with process, production, facilities, EHS, and vendors.
• Comfortable and careful working around aggressive process chemistries.

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, or Mechatronics Engineering, or an associate degree with equivalent hands‑on experience.
• 3+ years of hands‑on equipment engineering in semiconductor, solar, or similar high‑volume manufacturing.
• Hands‑on repair of wet bench, wet etch, wet strip, or texturing tools, including pumps, valves, heaters, filtration, and wafer handling.
• Component‑level troubleshooting from electrical schematics, pneumatic drawings, P&IDs, and PLC/HMI diagnostics.
• A track record of eliminating a chronic equipment failure, not just repairing it again.
• Safe working practice with hazardous chemicals, chemical‑compatible materials (quartz, PVDF, PTFE, PFA), and LOTO.
• Preferred: solar cell (TOPCon, PERC, or HJT) or semiconductor fab experience.
• Preferred: greenfield tool install, SAT, and ramp experience.

The T1 Way

We move fast, expect accountability, and treat people with respect. We also have a no‑jerks policy: we don't tolerate big egos, bad behavior or "that's not my job attitude". Be sharp, be honest, be human. If you can hold the line and have a sense of humor, you'll fit right in.

T1 Energy is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and applicants and do not discriminate on the basis of any legally protected characteristics.