Wet Etch Equipment Engineer — Solar Cells at Scale

Starlink; Bastrop (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX is hiring a Wet Etch Equipment Engineer for Starlink’s solar cell production. You will own wet texturing and preclean tools, driving uptime and tool reliability to support massive-scale manufacturing of high-efficiency cells.

You will partner with Process Engineers to implement new requirements, work with vendors on tool improvements, and establish metrics like OEE and MTBF to ensure cleanroom safety and robust hardware performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science or related technical discipline.
• 2+ years owning and maintaining chemical process equipment in high-volume semiconductor/solar manufacturing.
• Experience handling flammable, toxic, corrosive, and hazardous chemicals safely.

Responsibilities

• Install, qualify, maintain, and improve high-throughput texturing and preclean equipment for HJT solar cell manufacturing.
• Drive equipment reliability and uptime to support very large volume production.
• Develop preventive and predictive maintenance strategies and spare parts programs.
• Lead root cause analysis on equipment-related issues (chemical delivery, pumps, filtration, temp control, robotics).
• Collaborate with Process Engineers to implement new requirements on existing/future equipment.
• Evaluate next-generation texturing tools for 1GW+ per tool scale production.
• Work with vendors on equipment design improvements and upgrades.
• Establish performance metrics (OEE, MTBF, MTTR) and SPC for hardware stability.
• Ensure equipment meets cleanroom, safety, and high-reliability standards.
• Analyze production processes from first principles; report to leadership on factory state.

Skills

Chemical handling safety

High-volume manufacturing

Equipment maintenance

Root cause analysis

Preventive maintenance

Texturing/Preclean knowledge

Process optimization

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical/Electrical/Chemical Engineering or Materials Science

Tools

Pumps and filtration

Robotics/automation

Exhaust/abatement systems

Chemical delivery systems

Statistical tools (JMP, Minitab)

Job description

SpaceX is hiring a Wet Etch Equipment Engineer for Starlink’s solar cell production. You will own wet texturing and preclean tools, driving uptime and tool reliability to support massive-scale manufacturing of high-efficiency cells.

You will partner with Process Engineers to implement new requirements, work with vendors on tool improvements, and establish metrics like OEE and MTBF to ensure cleanroom safety and robust hardware performance.