Wet-Process Equipment Engineer - Solar Cell Manufacturing

Spacex; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX is hiring an Equipment Engineer, Wet Process for silicon solar cell production. You will own wet processing tools, ensure tool uptime, partner with process and facilities teams, and drive high-throughput manufacturing for Starlink hardware.

You will lead maintenance programs, analyze data to boost UPH, and work with vendors on tool improvements to deliver reliable solar cells for satellites.

Responsibilities

• Work with facilities and process engineering teams to install, qualify, maintain, and continuously improve high-throughput texturing and pre-clean equipment for heterojunction silicon solar cell manufacturing
• Drive equipment reliability and uptime to support high-volume production; run experiments and analyze data to improve UPH and reduce variation
• 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 equipment issues, including chemical delivery, pumps, filtration, temp control, robotics, wet benches, and exhaust systems
• Partner closely with Process Engineers to implement new process requirements on existing and future equipment platforms
• Evaluate and select next-generation high-throughput texturing 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

Job description

SpaceX is hiring an Equipment Engineer, Wet Process for silicon solar cell production. You will own wet processing tools, ensure tool uptime, partner with process and facilities teams, and drive high-throughput manufacturing for Starlink hardware.

You will lead maintenance programs, analyze data to boost UPH, and work with vendors on tool improvements to deliver reliable solar cells for satellites.