Factory Automation Engineer

Factory Automation Engineer

We are seeking a hands-on Factory Automation Engineer, to develop, deploy, integrate, and sustain practical factory automation solutions that improve safety, efficiency, quality, reliability, traceability, and data accuracy in a high-availability semiconductor manufacturing environment.

This role will support the startup, qualification, scale-up, and long-term sustainment of the Farmers Branch, TX manufacturing facility and will partner closely with Equipment Engineering, Process Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Facilities, EHS, IT Manufacturing Systems, vendors, and site leadership to convert operational needs into reliable automation and equipment integration solutions.

What You'll Do

• Develop, deploy, and sustain automation solutions for probe card, wafer fab, VPS, assembly, and test manufacturing operations from concept and requirements through commissioning, release, documentation, troubleshooting, and continuous improvement.
• Translate manufacturing, equipment, process, quality, and operator needs into automation requirements, user stories, functional specifications, equipment interface requirements, and practical implementation plans.
• Improve manufacturability, reduce manual operations, strengthen error proofing, enable traceability, and support the factory automation roadmap for a startup and scale-up manufacturing environment.
• Apply automation technologies including robotics, PLC/HMI controls, sensors, actuators, motion control, machine vision, barcode/RFID, data collection, equipment integration, station controllers, and workflow automation.
• Design assistive automation, machine control upgrades, process automation, and material handling solutions that improve operator safety, ergonomics, throughput, yield, cycle time, and equipment reliability.
• Automate equipment, product, process, maintenance, and quality data capture to support traceability, SPC, FDC, yield analysis, dashboards, maintenance planning, and factory decision-making.
• Integrate manufacturing equipment with factory systems such as MES, CMMS, SPC, FDC, APC, recipe management, dispatch, scheduling, data lake, reporting, and analytics platforms.
• Support equipment-to-host communication and factory integration concepts including SECS/GEM, GEM
  300, EDA/Interface A, OPC UA, REST APIs, message brokers, SQL databases, and custom equipment interfaces where applicable.
• Provide production support for automation and integration issues, troubleshoot equipment-to-host communication problems, restore uptime, identify root cause, and drive corrective and preventive actions for recurring events.
• Participate in equipment startup, site acceptance, qualification, validation, release-to-production, change control, and handoff activities for new or modified automated equipment and factory systems.
• Partner with IT, cybersecurity, infrastructure, vendors, and engineering teams to ensure automation solutions are reliable, maintainable, secure, supportable, and aligned with site standards.
• Create and maintain technical documentation, standard work, troubleshooting guides, validation records, source control notes, training materials, and operational handoff packages.

Key

Competencies:

• Strong problem-solving, troubleshooting, and analytical skills.
• Ability to prioritize and support production-critical issues in a fast-paced startup and scale-up environment.
• Clear communication and effective collaboration with cross-functional teams.
• Self-driven ownership, disciplined documentation, and a continuous improvement mindset.

Skills:

Automation Scripting, Bash (Scripting Language), Change Control Processes, Cross-Functional Collaboration, IT Problem Solving, Linux Environments, Manufacturing Systems, Microsoft Windows Environment, Power Shell Scripting, Python (Programming Language), Terraform (Software), Working Independently

Education & Experience:

Minimum of 5 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 3 years and a Master's degree; or a PhD without experience; or equivalent work | Required

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Form Factor is an equal opportunity employer. Form Factor complies with all national, state, and local laws that seek to promote equal opportunities for any applicant or employee without regard to age, race, color, gender, gender identity/expression, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, disability, marital status, pregnancy or related condition, military service, or any other legally protected characteristics. These protections apply to all aspects of employment, including but not limited to, recruitment, hiring, training, promotions, and compensation.