Sr. Materials Engineer - Solar Cell Materials

Future Ventures; Bastrop (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX is seeking a Sr. Materials Engineer to own critical consumables for Starlink solar cell manufacturing, from ingot growth to wafering and cell fabrication. You will define material requirements, qualify suppliers, and drive cost-saving, high-volume production improvements.

You will apply deep materials knowledge across metals, polymers, crystals, and coatings, and collaborate with supply chain, quality, and production to reduce risk and enable aggressive scale.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in materials science, chemical engineering, or a STEM field.
• 5+ years of experience in materials engineering, materials selection, process materials, supplier qualification, or manufacturing materials support.

Responsibilities

• Own and drive strategy for consumable materials across ingot, wafer, and/or solar cell manufacturing lines.
• Lead cross-functional efforts with supply chain, process engineering, quality, and production to source, qualify, and dual-source critical materials.
• Define and own material requirements, specifications, and acceptance criteria.
• Architect and execute material qualification programs with characterization, trials, reliability assessment, and production-readiness reviews.
• Lead root cause investigations to first principles and implement durable corrective actions.
• Apply materials fundamentals to anticipate failure modes and guide selection for better yield and cost.
• Identify and champion material opportunities delivering measurable improvements in yield, reliability, uptime, and cost.
• Mentor peers on materials problem solving and qualification best practices.
• Communicate technical status, risks, and strategic recommendations to leadership.
• Champion safety, quality, and ownership in materials and manufacturing.

Education

Bachelor's degree in materials science, chemical engineering, or a STEM field

5+ years of experience in materials engineering, materials selection, process materials, supplier qualification, or manufacturing materials support

Tools

SEM-EDS

XRD

FTIR

XPS

optical microscopy

mechanical/chemical testing

Job description

SpaceX is seeking a Sr. Materials Engineer to own critical consumables for Starlink solar cell manufacturing, from ingot growth to wafering and cell fabrication. You will define material requirements, qualify suppliers, and drive cost-saving, high-volume production improvements.

You will apply deep materials knowledge across metals, polymers, crystals, and coatings, and collaborate with supply chain, quality, and production to reduce risk and enable aggressive scale.