Staff Equipment Engineer

The Role

T1 Energy is looking to hire Staff Equipment Engineers to own equipment engineering and maintenance for the major tool groups at our G2 solar cell fab in Rockdale, Texas. This is a senior technical role for someone who has worked in complex multi-platform equipment environments in high-volume manufacturing and knows how to keep critical tools running at peak performance.

You’ve built maintenance programs, set the standard other engineers work to, and know what it means to own uptime in a production environment where downtime is never acceptable. You’re equally comfortable reviewing an OEE dashboard and getting hands-on with a tool that’s down.

This is a single posting covering four tool groups: wet process, thermal, deposition, and screen printing and test You’ll be assigned to the group that matches your depth, and you’ll be expected to work across the others as the ramp demands. Staff here means technical depth rather than headcount: you won’t have direct reports, but you will set the standard the engineers and technicians around you work to.

What You'll Do

• Own equipment engineering and maintenance for your assigned tool group at the G2 solar cell fab.

• Set the maintenance and troubleshooting standard for your area, and mentor the equipment engineers and maintenance technicians working on your tools.

• Establish and manage preventive and predictive maintenance programs that maximize equipment uptime and reliability.

• Drive installation, qualification, and acceptance for new tools and upgrades.

• Own spare parts strategy and inventory for your toolset, and work with vendors to ensure rapid response to equipment issues.

• Monitor and improve OEE across your toolset, identifying chronic downtime contributors and driving systematic resolution.

• Lead root cause analysis for equipment failures and implement corrective actions that stick.

• Partner with Process, Facilities, and EHS teams to ensure tools operate safely, cleanly, and within specification.

• Engage equipment vendors at a technical level on failures, modifications, and hardware improvements that increase uptime.

• Support fab ramp activities, including tool installation, qualification, and operator training.

Who You Are

• An experienced equipment engineer who has owned multi-platform toolsets in a semiconductor, solar, or advanced manufacturing environment.

• Deeply knowledgeable about maintenance strategy, equipment reliability, and OEE improvement.

• The engineer others bring a problem to after they’ve already tried everything.

• Systematic and thorough in your approach to equipment programs; nothing runs on luck under your watch.

• Calm and decisive when tools go down and production is waiting.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of equipment engineering and maintenance experience in a semiconductor, solar cell, or advanced manufacturing environment.

• Demonstrated hands-on experience in multi-platform equipment environments, including wet process, diffusion and thermal, CVD and ALD, metallization, and related toolsets.

• Proven track record building and managing preventive and predictive maintenance programs.

• Strong understanding of OEE metrics and systematic approaches to equipment reliability improvement.

• Experience setting maintenance standards and mentoring equipment engineers or maintenance technicians.

• Hands-on experience with equipment installation, qualification, and vendor management.

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field preferred.

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.