Lead Equipment Engineer, Solar Cell Metallization

Spacex; United States; Remote; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX's Starlink program seeks an Equipment Engineer, Solar Cell Metallization, to own the screen printing and metallization hardware for mass production of silicon solar cells. You will ensure tool availability, reliability, and scalability to support Starlink satellites and Moon/Mars missions.

You will partner with process and facilities teams to drive uptime, analyze data for capacity gains, and implement preventive maintenance strategies across a high-throughput production line.

Qualifications

• Experience operating high-throughput screen printing systems for solar cell manufacturing.
• Ability to analyze production data to improve UPH, reduce variation and defect rates.
• Strong collaboration with process and facilities teams to optimize equipment performance.

Responsibilities

• Install, qualify, maintain, and continuously improve high-throughput screen printing equipment for heterojunction silicon solar cell manufacturing.
• Drive reliability and uptime to support very large volume production; run experiments and analyze data to improve capacity and reduce tool-to-tool variation.
• 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 on all equipment-related issues, including print heads, squeegee systems, alignment/vision systems, conveyors, drying ovens, paste delivery, and automation.
• Partner with Process Engineers to implement new process requirements on existing and future equipment platforms.
• Evaluate and select next-generation high-throughput screen printing tools capable of supporting 1GW+ per tool scale production.
• Work with vendors on equipment design improvements, upgrades, and custom solutions tailored to heterojunction solar cell requirements.
• Establish equipment performance metrics (OEE, MTBF, MTTR) and implement statistical process control for hardware stability.
• Ensure all equipment meets cleanroom, safety, and high-reliability manufacturing standards.
• Analyze production processes and machinery from a first principles, physics-based approach.

Skills

Equipment operation

Process optimization

Data analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Screen printing equipment

Metallization equipment

Condition monitoring

Job description

SpaceX's Starlink program seeks an Equipment Engineer, Solar Cell Metallization, to own the screen printing and metallization hardware for mass production of silicon solar cells. You will ensure tool availability, reliability, and scalability to support Starlink satellites and Moon/Mars missions.

You will partner with process and facilities teams to drive uptime, analyze data for capacity gains, and implement preventive maintenance strategies across a high-throughput production line.