Staff Equipment Engineer

T1 Energy; Georgia; On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

T1 Energy in Rockdale, Texas is seeking a Staff Equipment Engineer to own equipment engineering and maintenance for multiple tool groups in a high-volume solar cell fab. You will set standards, mentor engineers, and drive uptime with preventive and predictive maintenance.

You’ll work across wet process, thermal, deposition, and screen printing, own spare parts strategy, and partner with Process, Facilities, and EHS teams to ensure safe, reliable operation.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of equipment engineering and maintenance experience in a semiconductor, solar cell, or advanced manufacturing environment.
• Hands-on experience with multi-platform equipment environments including wet process, diffusion and thermal, CVD and ALD, metallization, and related toolsets.
• Proven track record building and managing preventive and predictive maintenance programs.
• Strong understanding of OEE metrics and systematic approaches to equipment reliability improvement.
• Experience setting maintenance standards and mentoring equipment engineers or maintenance technicians.

Responsibilities

• Own equipment engineering and maintenance for your assigned tool group at the G2 solar cell fab, covering a multi-platform tool set.
• Set the maintenance and troubleshooting standard for your area, and mentor the equipment engineers and maintenance technicians working on your tools.
• Establish and manage preventative and predictive maintenance programs that maximize equipment uptime and reliability.
• Drive equipment qualification, installation, and acceptance activities for new tool installations and upgrades.
• Own spare parts strategy and inventory for your tool set, and work with vendors to ensure rapid response to equipment issues.
• Monitor and improve OEE across your tool set, identifying chronic downtime contributors and driving systematic resolution.
• Lead root cause analysis for equipment failures and implement corrective actions that stick.
• Partner with Process, Facilities, and EHS teams to ensure tools operate safely, cleanly, and within specification.
• Engage equipment vendors at a technical level on failures, modifications, and hardware improvements that increase uptime.
• Support fab ramp activities including tool installation, qualification, and operator training.

Skills

Equipment reliability

OEE improvement

Maintenance strategy

Problem solving

Calm under pressure

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering

Tools

OEE dashboards

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

T1 Energy is looking to hire Staff Equipment Engineers to own equipment engineering and maintenance for the major tool groups at our G2 solar cell fab in Rockdale, Texas. This is a senior technical role for someone who has worked in complex multi-platform equipment environments in high-volume manufacturing and knows how to keep critical tools running at peak performance.

You’ve built maintenance programs, set the standard other engineers work to, and know what it means to own uptime in a production environment where downtime is never acceptable. You’re equally comfortable reviewing an OEE dashboard and getting hands-on with a tool that’s down.

This is a single posting covering four tool groups, wet process, thermal, deposition, and screen printing and test. You’ll be assigned to the group that matches your depth, and you’ll be expected to work across the others as the ramp demands. Staff here means technical depth rather than headcount: you won’t have direct reports, but you will set the standard the engineers and technicians around you work to.

What You'll Do

• Own equipment engineering and maintenance for your assigned tool group at the G2 solar cell fab, covering a multi-platform tool set.
• Set the maintenance and troubleshooting standard for your area, and mentor the equipment engineers and maintenance technicians working on your tools.
• Establish and manage preventative and predictive maintenance programs that maximize equipment uptime and reliability.
• Drive equipment qualification, installation, and acceptance activities for new tool installations and upgrades.
• Own spare parts strategy and inventory for your tool set, and work with vendors to ensure rapid response to equipment issues.
• Monitor and improve OEE across your tool set, identifying chronic downtime contributors and driving systematic resolution.
• Lead root cause analysis for equipment failures and implement corrective actions that stick.
• Partner with Process, Facilities, and EHS teams to ensure tools operate safely, cleanly, and within specification.
• Engage equipment vendors at a technical level on failures, modifications, and hardware improvements that increase uptime.
• Support fab ramp activities including tool installation, qualification, and operator training.

Who You Are

• An experienced equipment engineer who has owned multi-platform tool sets in a semiconductor, solar, or advanced manufacturing environment.
• Deeply knowledgeable in maintenance strategy, equipment reliability, and OEE improvement.
• The engineer others bring a problem to after they’ve already tried everything.
• Systematic and thorough in your approach to equipment programs - nothing runs on luck under your watch.
• Calm and decisive when tools go down, and production is waiting.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of equipment engineering and maintenance experience in a semiconductor, solar cell, or advanced manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience in multi-platform equipment environments including wet process, diffusion and thermal, CVD and ALD, metallization, and related toolsets.
• Proven track record building and managing preventive and predictive maintenance programs.
• Strong understanding of OEE metrics and systematic approaches to equipment reliability improvement.
• Experience setting maintenance standards and mentoring equipment engineers or maintenance technicians.
• Hands-on experience with equipment installation, qualification, and vendor management.
• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field preferred.

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.