Equipment Engineer, Screen Printing

About the role

T1 Energy is building a domestic solar supply chain with a fully operational 5GW solar module facility in Wilmer, Texas. The G2 TOPCon solar cell fab in Rockdale, Texas, includes a print line that applies contacts via screen printers, dryers, and firing furnaces—the most fragile step before testing. As an Equipment Engineer you will own a set of metallization tools (screen printers, dryers, firing furnaces) from installation through high‑volume production, work on‑site in Rockdale on day shift supporting a 24/7 fab, participate in an on‑call rotation for critical tool‑downs, and perform cleanroom and sub‑fab tasks in full chemical PPE. You will help build the fab from the ground up, establishing PMs, procedures, and fixes that become the standard, and you will have authority to make the engineering calls that keep your tools running.

Responsibilities

• 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 escalating 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 both from failure history.
• Keep interlocks, over‑temperature protection, exhaust and abatement interfaces, and paste and solvent handling controls working across the print line, working together with EHS.
• Work with Process Engineering on print alignment, wet weight, screen and stencil life, and firing profile hardware.
• Bring tools through install, SAT, and qualification into production.
• Write down the procedures and train the technicians who run them.

Qualifications

• 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 screen printers, belt dryers, or firing furnaces, including print heads, squeegees, screen and stencil mounting, vision alignment, belt drives, and thermal zones.
• 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 metallization pastes and solvents, high‑temperature belt furnaces, and LOTO.
• Preferred: solar cell (TOPCon, PERC, or HJT) or semiconductor fab experience.
• Preferred: greenfield tool install, SAT, and ramp experience.
• Hands‑on equipment engineer who prefers being at the tool rather than in meetings.
• Systematic about failure: fix the cause, not the symptom, and verify the fix holds.
• Decisive when a tool is down and the line is waiting.
• Straight communicator with process, production, facilities, EHS, and vendors.
• Detail‑oriented about alignment, print quality, and wafer breakage at the most fragile point in the line.

Schedule

This is an on‑site role at G2 in Rockdale, Texas, day shift, supporting a 24/7 fab, with an on‑call rotation for critical tool‑downs, and cleanroom and sub‑fab work performed in full chemical PPE.