Chemical Texturing Equipment Engineer - Solar Cells, Starlink
About the job
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, or related technical discipline
- 2+ years of hands-on experience owning and maintaining chemical process equipment in a high-volume semiconductor, solar manufacturing, or related environment
- Experience handling flammable, toxic, corrosive, and/or hazardous chemicals and gases safely
- U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder), Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State (ITAR requirements)
- Must be able to work extended hours and weekends as needed to support production and urgent equipment downtime situations
- Ability to lift 25 lbs unassisted, work in cleanroom environments, and move between multiple production areas
- Willingness to travel domestically and internationally to vendor sites (up to 20%)
- Work with facilities and process engineering teams to install, qualify, maintain, and continuously improve high-throughput texturing and preclean equipment for heterojunction silicon solar cell manufacturing
- Drive equipment reliability and uptime to support very large volume production with minimal downtime. Run experiments and analyze data to improve capacity (UPH), reduce tool-to-tool variation, and improve defect performance
- 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 all equipment-related issues, including chemical delivery systems, pumps, filtration, temperature control, robotics/automation, wet benches, and exhaust/abatement 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
- Attend meetings to communicate factory state to leadership with respect to the team’s equipment
- 5+ years of hands-on experience owning and maintaining chemical process equipment in a high-volume semiconductor or solar manufacturing environment
- Strong technical expertise in chemical delivery systems, wet process equipment, pumps, filtration, temperature control hardware, robotics, and automation
- Demonstrated success improving equipment uptime and reliability in a 24/7 high-volume production setting
- Experience with heterojunction (HJT) silicon solar cell manufacturing equipment
- Previous work at high-volume solar, semiconductor, or display manufacturing facilities (multi-GW or 300mm fab experience is a plus)
- Deep knowledge of texturing tool architecture and subsystems
- Experience with chemical concentration control, bath lifetime optimization, rinse systems, dryer systems, and particle control
- Experience with electro-pneumatic robot and transfer module systems
- Experience with hazardous chemical delivery, handling, and abatement systems
- Experience scaling equipment from pilot to very high volume production
- Proficiency with statistical tools (JMP, Minitab), failure analysis techniques, and reliability engineering principles
- Strong project management skills with the ability to drive complex equipment installations and qualifications
- Familiarity with high-reliability manufacturing standards for aerospace applications
About the company
SpaceX designs, builds, and launches rockets and spacecraft for government and commercial customers, using reusable first stages to cut costs. Its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy recover their boosters to enable rapid reuse, while Dragon transports cargo and crew to the International Space Station. Starlink operates a satellite internet constellation to provide global broadband coverage. It earns revenue from launches and merchandise, with the broader goal of making space travel cheaper and, over time, enabling human life on other planets and expanding global internet access.
Company Size
10,001+
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
Starbase, Texas
Founded
2002
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Flight 14 deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites on September 28, 2026, adding 26 Tbps capacity.
- FAA licensed Flight 14 on September 26, 2026, clearing SpaceX's next orbital campaign.
- SpaceX's self-funding and Starlink cash flow bankroll Starship development and orbital data centers.
What critics are saying
- Starship still lacks repeatable reusability; engine shutdowns on Flight 14 exposed reliability gaps.
- NASA OIG said Starship HLS misses June 2027 readiness, delaying Artemis III.
- If Starship refueling stalls, SpaceX's lunar ambitions and orbital economics collapse.
What makes SpaceX unique
- Starship Flight 14 reached orbit on September 28, 2026, proving orbital capability.
- SpaceX controls rockets, satellites, and launch pads, compressing iteration faster than rivals.
- NASA still depends on SpaceX Starship HLS for Artemis III and Artemis IV.
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Benefits
Benefits and Perks - Our employees’ well-being is important to us and essential to our capacity to do extraordinary things. We offer a wide variety of programs to support the health, wellness, and financial security of our employees and their families.
Growth & Insights and Company News
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↑ 0%Google launched its first orbital compute satellite today aboard a SpaceX rocket from California, testing whether its Tensor Processing Unit can function in space. The satellite, built by Planet Labs, will run 15-minute computing bursts to avoid straining power and thermal systems. The test is part of Project Suncatcher, Google's plan to develop large-scale orbital compute clusters. The company envisions a network of 81 satellites processing in parallel, though scaling depends on dramatically cheaper rocket launches. Google released analysis suggesting SpaceX's Starship must launch approximately 1,800 times over the next decade—flying 370,000 tonnes of payload—to achieve the $200 per kilogram launch costs needed by 2035. That requires 180 yearly launches at 200 metric tonnes each, far exceeding Starship's current five annual flights. Radiation testing showed Google's chips can handle inference workloads for five-year satellite lifespans, though error rates remain problematic for large-scale training operations.
SpaceX's Starlink is becoming a more credible threat to terrestrial broadband providers like Comcast and Charter Communications, particularly in rural and lower-density markets, according to MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett. SpaceX recently deployed 26 higher-capacity V3 satellites via its first Starship orbital flight, marking a significant milestone for the service. Moffett told CNBC that Starlink poses a greater competitive challenge to broadband providers than to wireless carriers like AT&T and Verizon. However, he expects the transition to take time, with most of the constellation consisting of V3 satellites only after 2030. Despite improvements, Starlink is not expected to match speeds offered by terrestrial fibre or cable broadband. The technology remains best suited to rural markets whilst also serving some customers in denser areas.
Tesla and SpaceX shares rose Wednesday after ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood said Elon Musk was "working all angles" with US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping regarding a potential merger between the companies. Tesla closed 0.6% higher at $354.81, whilst SpaceX gained 1.1% to $150.86. Wood identified China as a major hurdle to any deal, given SpaceX's national security role and Tesla's substantial Shanghai operations. US government sales accounted for 20.9% of SpaceX's 2025 revenue, whilst China represents about a fifth of Tesla's sales. Musk denied reports of a possible separation of Tesla's China business. ARK continued buying both stocks, purchasing 48,352 Tesla shares and 9,112 SpaceX shares worth approximately $1.3 million on Tuesday.
SpaceX launches Starship Flight 14 on first orbital test mission. 2 hours ago Starship Flight 14 lifted off from Starbase in Texas, reaching orbital velocity for the first time in the programme's flight-test history. SpaceX has launched its Starship vehicle into orbit for the first time, marking a major milestone in the development of the company's fully reusable launch system. Starship Flight 14 lifted off from SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas. The mission was the 14th full-scale Starship test flight and the first designed to send the spacecraft into Earth orbit. Previous flights had followed suborbital trajectories to support testing and development. The mission achieved its primary orbital objective despite an engine issue during the spacecraft's ascent. One of Starship's Raptor engines shut down earlier than planned, but flight controllers continued with the mission after assessing the vehicle's condition. Starship subsequently performed its orbital insertion burn using a single Raptor engine and reached low Earth orbit approximately 25 minutes after launch. The mission also marked the first operational deployment of Starlink V3 satellites from Starship. The spacecraft successfully released 26 satellites into orbit. SpaceX said each V3 satellite is designed to add approximately 1 Tbps of capacity to the Starlink network, giving the mission a potential total of 26 Tbps of additional capacity. The company said this represents roughly 10 times the capacity of a Falcon 9 launch carrying Starlink V2 Mini satellites. Three of the deployed satellites carried cameras designed to capture imagery of Starship's heat shield. SpaceX plans to use the data to assess the vehicle's thermal protection system and support the development of future missions involving the return of Starship to its launch site. The flight was originally planned as an approximately 10-hour mission involving around six orbits at an altitude of roughly 275 km, followed by a controlled splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile. However, the mission was shortened after the engine issue. Starship completed several hours of flight before re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii. The Super Heavy booster also completed a controlled return following stage separation, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico. Engine issues affected the booster during the flight, but the vehicle nevertheless completed key elements of the planned ascent and return sequence. Flight 14 represents an important step in SpaceX's effort to develop Starship as a fully and rapidly reusable transportation system. The vehicle is intended to support satellite deployment and eventually crewed missions beyond low Earth orbit, including NASA's Artemis lunar exploration programme. NASA has selected SpaceX to develop the Starship Human Landing System for Artemis III and Artemis IV. Under NASA's current plan, Starship will undergo additional testing, including an uncrewed lunar demonstration, before it can be used for crewed lunar missions. The successful orbital insertion and deployment of operational Starlink satellites mark a new phase in Starship's flight-test programme, while the engine anomaly and shortened mission provide additional data for SpaceX as it continues work toward routine launches and rapid reusability.
SpaceX expects to have nearly 450,000 additional Nvidia GPUs operational by October, according to Barron's. A cluster of 220,000 Nvidia GB300 Blackwell GPUs should be running within days, with another 220,000 coming by October. This adds to the 780,000 Blackwell and Hopper processors already operating in SpaceX's data centres. The deal is particularly significant for SpaceX, which recently went public. The company has struck compute-capacity rental agreements with Anthropic and Alphabet worth approximately $26 billion annually combined. Start-up Reflection AI signed a deal worth $150 million monthly. These revenue streams are meaningful for SpaceX, which generated $18.7 billion in sales in 2025 but incurred a $4.9 billion loss. The additional GPU capacity could enable more cloud rental deals, helping fund SpaceX's orbital AI infrastructure plans.