Process Specialist - Soldering

Role Purpose

Key Responsibilities

•  Provide hands-on manufacturing engineering support across cell stringing, soldering, bussing, layup, interconnection, and inspection processes. 
•  Monitor equipment performance, product flow, materials, and process variation to identify and implement improvements in safety, quality, yield, throughput, and cost. 
•  Set up, optimize, validate, and maintain tabber-stringer recipes, process parameters, operating windows, control plans, and standard work. 
•  Lead troubleshooting and root-cause analysis for equipment faults, process instability, soldering defects, cell damage, alignment issues, electrical defects, and yield losses, ensuring corrective actions are sustained. 
•  Analyze EL imaging, IV curves, inspection results, pull/peel testing, resistance measurements, defect trends, and process data to identify root causes and validate improvements. 
•  Partner with operators, technicians, Maintenance, Quality, Reliability, and Engineering to improve equipment reliability, process capability, uptime, repeatability, and manufacturing readiness. 
•  Plan and execute DOEs, production trials, capability studies, qualification builds, and validation activities for process, equipment, and material changes. 
•  Support the evaluation, qualification, and implementation of new cells, interconnection materials, equipment, tooling, automation, and advanced module technologies. 
•  Provide hands-on process support for new product introductions, equipment installations, commissioning, line recoveries, and production ramp-ups. 
•  Develop and deliver practical training for production teams on equipment operation, defect recognition, troubleshooting, material handling, process controls, and standard work.

Experiences/Education - Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Materials Science, Manufacturing, Physics, or a related technical discipline; equivalent directly relevant industry experience will be considered. 
• 5+ years of hands-on solar module manufacturing experience, including significant direct responsibility for tabber-stringer, soldering, stringing, bussing, or cell interconnection operations. 
• Proven ability to independently troubleshoot and improve solar-cell stringing and soldering processes on the manufacturing floor. 
• Direct experience setting up and optimizing tabber-stringer equipment, recipes, soldering profiles, ribbon/wire feed systems, alignment systems, and cell-handling processes. 
• Strong knowledge of solder-joint formation, interconnect materials, cell damage mechanisms, electrical failure modes, and stringing-related reliability risks. 
• Demonstrated success improving first-pass yield, module power, interconnection quality, throughput, uptime, and cost. 
• Experience interpreting EL images, IV curves, visual defects, pull/peel tests, resistance measurements, and production data. 
• Experience applying root-cause analysis, DOE, SPC, PFMEA, 8D, or similar structured improvement methods. 
• Ability and willingness to work directly in a fast-paced production environment for the majority of the workday. 

Experiences/Education - Desired

• Direct experience with automated tabber-stringer platforms from leading solar equipment suppliers. 
• Experience with MBB, SMBB, low-temperature soldering, conductive adhesive, smart-wire, zero-busbar, or other advanced cell-interconnection technologies. 
• Experience with thin and large-format crystalline-silicon cells, TOPCon, HJT, bifacial, or glass-glass module designs. 
• Experience supporting equipment startup, commissioning, factory/site acceptance testing, production-line ramp-up, and new-product introduction. 
• Familiarity with module reliability testing and standards such as IEC 61215, IEC 61730, and UL 61730. 
• Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or equivalent continuous-improvement training. 
• Experience using MES, SPC systems, equipment historians, SQL, JMP, Minitab, Python, or advanced Excel to analyze production and quality data.