Senior Advanced Control & Automation Engineer- Semiconductor Equipment

About the role

Join our Platform Controls team as a Senior Advanced Controls & Automation Engineer to support the design, development, integration, testing, and deployment of advanced control and automation systems for semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, integrate, and support industrial automation and control systems used in semiconductor manufacturing equipment and related electromechanical subsystems.
• Develop and maintain PLC-based control logic, industrial automation sequences, interlocks, alarms, and machine state control for complex equipment.
• Develop, configure, and validate EtherCAT-based control networks and interfaces for servo drives, remote I/O, sensors, actuators, and distributed subsystems.
• Support FPGA-based controls development and integration for high-speed or deterministic control functions, signal processing, and hardware interfacing.
• Use MATLAB and related engineering tools for controls modeling, simulation, tuning, data analysis, and performance optimization.
• Develop, implement, or evaluate advanced control strategies including model-based control, ANN, and ML approaches for improved system performance, diagnostics, or predictive capabilities.
• Create and execute test plans, analyze system behavior and data, and document results to verify functionality, performance, and reliability.
• Collaborate with software, electrical, mechanical, manufacturing, systems, and field teams to resolve technical issues and improve product performance.
• Contribute to design reviews, DFx efforts, risk reduction, and continuous improvement initiatives related to controls robustness, manufacturability, and serviceability.
• Lead or support system integration, debug, root-cause analysis, and performance optimization during development, qualification, and production support.
• Travel domestically and internationally as required (typically less than 10%).

Requirements

• 3–10 years of experience in industrial automation, controls engineering, motion control, robotics, semiconductor equipment, or related electromechanical systems.
• Strong understanding of control theory fundamentals, industrial automation architectures, servo systems, and system-level integration.
• Hands-on experience with PLC programming, automation sequencing, industrial I/O, and machine control concepts.
• Experience with MATLAB for modeling, analysis, control design, data visualization, or simulation.
• Experience with EtherCAT-based systems, industrial communication networks, and distributed control architectures.
• Experience with FPGA-based controls, real-time hardware implementation, or high-speed control interfaces.
• Familiarity with advanced controls, such as model-based control, ANN, ML, or other data-driven control and diagnostics approaches.
• Ability to troubleshoot electrical, mechanical, controls, and software interactions in complex systems.
• Ability to interpret electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, and technical drawings.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and hands-on debugging skills.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills with the ability to work across cross-functional teams.
• Self-motivated, detail-oriented, and capable of managing work across multiple priorities in a fast-paced engineering environment.
• Ability to work in a cleanroom environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Automation Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics, Computer Engineering, or a related field required.
• PhD degree or equivalent practical experience is preferred.

Skills

• PLC programming
• MATLAB-based modeling and analysis
• EtherCAT networks
• FPGA-based controls
• Advanced control methods including artificial neural networks (ANN) and machine learning (ML)

Benefits

Our comprehensive benefits package includes eligibility in the Axcelis Team Incentive bonus plan.

Pay

$124,050.32 - $186,075.49 USD base salary range.

Schedule

Full-time position.