Hands-On Equipment Engineer – Wet Process (Solar Fab)

T1 Energy Inc.; Georgia; On-site; USD 85,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

T1 Energy is building a TOPCon solar-cell fab in Rockdale, Texas. As an Equipment Engineer you’ll own a set of wet chemical tools from install through high-volume production, spending most of your day at the tool and making engineering calls to keep it running.

This on-site, day-shift role supports a 24/7 fab with on-call rotations. You’ll develop PMs, procedures, fixes, and train technicians, while working with EHS and Process Engineering to optimize bath life and chemical-change-out.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, or Mechatronics Engineering or an associate with hands-on experience.
• 3+ years hands-on equipment engineering in semiconductor, solar, or high-volume manufacturing.
• Hands-on repair of wet bench, wet etch, wet strip, or texturing tools (pumps, valves, heaters, filtration, wafer handling).
• Component-level troubleshooting from electrical schematics, pneumatic drawings, P&IDs, and PLC/HMI diagnostics.
• Track record of eliminating a chronic equipment failure, not just repairing it.
• Safe working with hazardous chemicals, chemical‑compatible materials (quartz, PVDF, PTFE, PFA), and LOTO.

Responsibilities

• Own OEE, availability, MTBF, and MTTR for your toolset.
• Be first on the tool when it goes down; diagnose, repair, and restore it.
• Close root causes on chronic failures using 8D, FMEA, and Pareto analysis.
• Analyze alarm histories, maintenance records, and tool data to spot failure trends.
• Own the PM schedule and refine vendor PM procedures; set critical-spares levels.
• Maintain interlocks, leak detection, and exhaust/ scrubber interfaces with HF, NaOH, and HCl with EHS.
• Collaborate with Process Engineering on bath life, chemical change-out, and concentration control hardware.
• Document procedures and train technicians on install, SAT, and ramp to production.

Skills

Hands-on engineering

Semiconductor fab

Troubleshooting

Chemical safety

Education

Engineering degree or higher

Tools

PLC/HMI diagnostics

P&ID interpretation

Wet bench tools

Job description

T1 Energy is building a TOPCon solar-cell fab in Rockdale, Texas. As an Equipment Engineer you’ll own a set of wet chemical tools from install through high-volume production, spending most of your day at the tool and making engineering calls to keep it running.

This on-site, day-shift role supports a 24/7 fab with on-call rotations. You’ll develop PMs, procedures, fixes, and train technicians, while working with EHS and Process Engineering to optimize bath life and chemical-change-out.