PVD Equipment Engineer, Solar Cells (Starlink)

Spacex; United States; Remote; USD 95,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX in the United States is seeking a Solar Cells PVD Equipment Engineer to own high-throughput PVD hardware for silicon solar cell production. You will ensure tool uptime, reliability, and scalable performance to support Starlink and Starship programs.

You will lead preventive maintenance, root-cause analysis, and cross-functional collaboration with process and facilities teams to implement new equipment requirements and optimize uptime in a 24/7 production environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, electrical, chemical engineering or related field.
• 2+ years owning and maintaining PVD or sputtering equipment in high-volume manufacturing.

Responsibilities

• Install, qualify, maintain, and improve high-throughput PVD equipment for silicon solar cell manufacturing.
• Drive equipment reliability and uptime to support large-volume production with minimal downtime.
• Develop preventive and predictive maintenance strategies and spare parts programs.
• Lead root cause analysis on equipment-related issues including vacuum systems and power supplies.
• Collaborate with Process Engineers to implement new process requirements on equipment.
• Evaluate next-generation PVD tools for high-volume production scale.
• Coordinate with vendors on equipment design improvements and upgrades.
• Establish equipment performance metrics (OEE, MTBF, MTTR) and monitor hardware stability.
• Ensure compliance with cleanroom, safety, and manufacturing standards.
• Communicate factory state to leadership regarding equipment status.

Skills

PVD equipment ownership

Sputtering equipment

Vacuum systems

Process integration

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

PVD tools

RF/DC power supplies

Temperature control hardware

Job description

the company was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today the company is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal ofenabling human life on Mars.

PVD EQUIPMENT ENGINEER, SOLAR CELLS (STARLINK)

Starlink believes in providing fast, reliable internet to those that need it most. We design, build, and launch the world's largest and most advanced satellite constellation that is capable of delivering high-speed internet to even the most remote locations.

As a Solar Cell PVD Equipment Engineer, you will own the PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition / sputtering) equipment used to manufacture silicon heterojunction solar cells at massive scale. You will work closely with our existing PVD Process Engineering team to ensure world-class equipment performance, reliability, and uptime. While the process team focuses on film properties (e.g., TCO layers), sheet resistance, and cell efficiency, you will be the hardware owner responsible for tool availability, stability, and scaling to support our ambitious goals.

Your work will form the backbone of the Starlink network (photons of sunlight in is directly proportional to photons of data out to customers!) and help provide internet to tens of millions of customers all around the world. You will spearhead state of the art production equipment for an internal solar cell production line, providing high efficiency and high-quality solar cells for both our latest generation Starlink satellites and for Starship missions to the Moon and Mars.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Work with facilities and process engineering teams to install, qualify, maintain, and continuously improve high-throughput PVD equipment for heterojunction silicon solar cell manufacturing

• Drive equipment reliability and uptime to support 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 robust 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 vacuum systems, sputtering cathodes/targets, RF/DC power supplies, gas delivery, temperature control, and automation

• Partner closely with Process Engineers to implement new process requirements on existing and future equipment platforms

• Evaluate and select next-generation high-throughput PVD 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

• Attend meetings to communicate factory state to leadership with respect to the team’s equipment

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, materials science, or other engineering discipline

• 2+ years of hands-on experience owning and maintaining PVD or sputtering equipment in a high-volume semiconductor, solar manufacturing, or related environment

• Experience handling flammable, toxic, corrosive, and/or hazardous chemicals and gases safely

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• 5+ years of hands-on experience owning and maintaining PVD or sputtering equipment in a high-volume semiconductor or solar manufacturing environment

• Strong technical expertise in vacuum systems, sputtering cathodes, RF/DC power supplies and matching networks, gas delivery, mass flow controllers, and temperature control hardware

• Demonstrated success improving equipment uptime and reliability in a 24/7 high-volume production setting

• Experience with heterojunction (HJT) silicon solar cell manufacturing equipment