Equipment Engineer, Deposition

The Role

G2 is T1 Energy’s new TOPCon solar cell fab in Rockdale, Texas. Deposition lays the passivation and coating films that set cell efficiency: ALD alumina and front- and rear-side PECVD films. These are the most complex tools in the fab, and the least forgiving when chamber condition drifts. We’re hiring Equipment Engineers to keep them running.

You’ll own a set of vacuum deposition tools, from install through high-volume production. The set covers ALD platforms and front-side and rear-side PECVD platforms. It’s a hands-on role: most of your day is at the tool, and you’ll be trusted to make the engineering calls that keep it running.

This is an on-site, day-shift role at G2 in Rockdale, Texas, supporting a 24/7 fab. It includes an on-call rotation for critical tool-downs, as well as cleanroom and sub-fab work in full chemical PPE. You’ll be building a fab from the ground up: your PMs, your procedures, and your fixes become the standard.

What You'll Do

• Own OEE, availability, MTBF, and MTTR for your toolset.
• Be first on the tool when it goes down. Make it safe, diagnose the failed component, and restore it. When you escalate to the vendor, bring clear data.
• Close root cause on chronic failures, wafer breakage, and leaks using 8D, FMEA, and Pareto, and verify the fixes hold.
• Analyze alarm histories, maintenance records, and tool data in JMP, SQL, Python, or Excel to spot failure trends before they cause downtime.
• Own the PM schedule, refine vendor PM procedures, and set critical-spares levels, then adjust the schedule and spares levels based on failure history.
• Keep interlocks, gas detection, exhaust and abatement interfaces, and vacuum safety systems working on tools running silane, precursors, and other hazardous process gases. You’ll do this together with EHS.
• Work with Process Engineering on chamber condition, clean and season cycles, kit life, and the hardware that drives film thickness and uniformity.
• Bring tools through install, SAT, and qualification into production. Write down the procedures and train the technicians who run them.

Who You Are

• A hands-on equipment engineer who would rather be at the tool than in a meeting.
• Systematic about failure: you fix the cause, not the symptom, and you check that it held.
• Decisive when a tool is down and the line is waiting.
• A direct communicator with process, production, facilities, EHS, and vendors.
• Comfortable with vacuum and plasma systems, and disciplined about chamber condition and leak integrity.

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, or Mechatronics Engineering, or an associate degree with equivalent hands-on experience.
• 3+ years of hands-on equipment engineering in semiconductor, solar, or similar high-volume manufacturing.
• Hands-on repair of vacuum deposition tools (ALD, PECVD, LPCVD, or sputter), including dry and turbo pumps, gauges and valves, RF generators and matching networks, electrodes, precursor delivery and vaporizers, and chamber kits.
• Component-level troubleshooting from electrical schematics, pneumatic drawings, P&IDs, and PLC/HMI diagnostics.
• A track record of eliminating a chronic equipment failure, not just repairing it again.
• Safe working practice with pyrophoric and toxic process gases, vacuum systems, helium leak detection, and LOTO.
• Preferred: solar cell (TOPCon, PERC, or HJT) or semiconductor fab experience.
• Preferred: greenfield tool install, SAT, and ramp experience.

About T1 Energy

At T1 Energy (NYSE: TE), we build energy. We are an American solar manufacturer building the future of energy abundance. From our headquarters in Austin, Texas, we’re pioneering a domestic solar supply chain with one mission: to invigorate America with scalable, reliable, and low-cost energy.

We started with G1_Dallas, one of the most advanced solar manufacturing facilities in the world. The 5GW facility is located in Wilmer, Texas. It has the capacity to produce more than 20,000 solar modules a day for solar farms that power American homes, businesses, and keep our energy grids resilient.

Next is G2_Austin: Our new solar cell fab in Rockdale, Texas. Its first 2.1GW phase is designed to produce next-generation TOPCon cells beginning in 2027. As the fab grows, it’s expected to support up to 1,800 manufacturing jobs. Modules assembled at G1 can run on cells from G2.

What comes after G2? Come join us and help figure that out. And then build it. The sun has always shone on America. Now you can turn it into abundant electricity.

The T1 Way

We’re all in on the mission, and we pursue it as one team. We move fast, own our results, and treat each other with respect. Egos stay at the door: no one is too senior to roll up their sleeves, and no idea is too small to share. Be sharp, be honest, be human. If you can hold the line and keep 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.