SpaceX Verified

Aerospace, Space Exploration, Telecommunications, Manufacturing

Sr. Materials Engineer, Silicon Crystal Growth (Starlink)

Bastrop, TXFull TimeSeniorPosted 2 months ago

Is this role right for you?

Upload your resume and get a skill-by-skill breakdown — see exactly where you match, where you're close, and what to highlight. Not a mystery percentage.

Get a tailored resume highlighting what this role needs.

Required skills

silicon crystal growth
solar cells
wafer production
quality specifications
root cause failure investigations
PV efficiency
scale-up

Nice to have

CZ crystal growth
thermal management
impurity control
defect mitigation
polysilicon feedstock
dopants

Role summary

Starlink is seeking a Sr. Materials Engineer specializing in Silicon Crystal Growth to address materials and processing challenges for their satellite solar cells. The role involves owning the full lifecycle of equipment specification, validation, and process development for silicon ingot and wafer production. Responsibilities include implementing metrology tools, developing quality specifications, conducting testing, leading failure investigations, and driving scale-up plans from R&D to production. The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor's degree in a STEM field and 5+ years of experience in semiconductor crystal growth manufacturing, research, or characterization.

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.

SR. MATERIALS ENGINEER, SILICON CRYSTAL GROWTH (STARLINK)

Starlink, our revolutionary satellite constellation, will deliver low-latency broadband internet worldwide. We are committed to offering access to high-speed internet to customers and are looking for a Materials Engineer to utilize their knowledge, experience, and creativity to solve materials and processing challenges in silicon crystal growth and wafer production for Starlink solar cells.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Own the full lifecycle of equipment specification, validation, and process development for silicon ingot and wafer production.

Specify and implement in-process and off-line metrology tools for quality control.

Develop silicon ingot and wafer quality specifications; conduct testing and performance evaluation to ensure specifications are met.

Lead root cause failure investigations to resolve process issues.

Push material and crystal growth process limits to enable higher PV efficiency.

Collaborate with leadership and stakeholders to drive scale-up plans from R&D to production of silicon ingots and wafers.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

Bachelor's degree in materials science, chemical engineering, or a STEM field.

5+ years of experience in semiconductor crystal growth manufacturing, research, or characterization.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

Master's degree or PhD in materials science, chemical engineering, or a related field.

8+ years of professional work experience (photovoltaics, semiconductor, or crystal growth sectors preferred).

Expertise in CZ crystal growth fundamentals, including thermal management, impurity control, and defect mitigation.

In-depth knowledge of polysilicon feedstock, dopants, crucible materials, and their impact on ingot quality and yield.

Proficiency in silicon ingot/wafer characterization techniques and equipment, including ICP-MS, GDMS, XRT, SEM/TEM, FTIR, resistivity mapping, and minority carrier lifetime testing (PL).

Experience with Statistical Process Control (SPC), Design of Experiments (DOE), and manufacturing metrics (e.g., CPK, yield, OEE) in production environments.

Demonstrated track record in developing new processes, improving efficiencies (e.g., pull rates, purity >9N), and successfully transferring to production in a rapidly growing, fast-paced environment.

Proven cross-functional leadership skills, with experience aligning diverse teams to achieve shared technology goals.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

Must be available to work extended hours and weekends as needed.

Willingness and ability to travel up to 25% time.

Work performed in an environment requiring exposure to fumes, odors, and noise.

Comfort occasionally working in tight or confined spaces.

ITAR REQUIREMENTS:

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

SpaceX is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with SpaceX is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Applicants wishing to view a copy of SpaceX’s Affirmative Action Plan for veterans and individuals with disabilities, or applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application/interview process should reach out to EEOCompliance@spacex.com.

Sample SpaceX interview questions

1
Build a distributed platform for storing and serving digital assets.
system designmedium
2
Design a system for real-time processing of IoT device data.
system designmedium
3
Design a distributed message queue like Kafka.
system designmedium
4
Develop a web app that shortens URLs like TinyURL.
system designmedium
5
Propose a high-level design for a tracing system that can handle millions of spans per second across thousands of services.
system designmedium

Get started to unlock a personalized interview prep pack for this role.

Ready to apply?

You'll be redirected to SpaceX's application page.