Development Engineer II

First Solar reserves the right to offer you a role most applicable to your experience and skillset.

• Perform material and device research to enhance thin film solar cell performance and stability and to reduce manufacturing cost.
• Responsible for projects or functions that are enablers to department goals and deliverables.
• Plan, execute and characterize development engineering experiments in the laboratory and manufacturing environment.
• Applies statistical and engineering methods to optimize organizational effectiveness. Improves methods for use by others.

• Associate's Degree in an engineering discipline or similar technical discipline and 15 years of relevant technical experience or 2 years of experience as a Development Engineer I at First Solar.
• Bachelor's Degree in an engineering discipline or similar technical discipline and 5 years of relevant technical experience or 2 years of experience as a Development Engineer I at First Solar.
• Master's Degree in an engineering discipline or similar technical discipline and 3 years of relevant technical experience or 2 years of experience as a Development Engineer I at First Solar.
• Ph.D. in an engineering discipline or similar technical discipline, without prior technical work experience.

• Comprehensive understanding of functional business units' core area (e.g., sputter or materials science), with expert knowledge in at least one area.
• Skills and hands‑on experience in execution of experiments in laboratory or manufacturing environment.
• Analytical skills to interpret data and derive conclusions.
• Ability to make and execute detailed plans to achieve objectives with strong sense of ownership.
• Good communication skills across organizations.

• Identify opportunities for improvement in solar cell efficiency, material selection and process/equipment design through engineering, scientific or empirical methods.
• Apply state-of-the-art techniques for material analysis, statistical analysis of data or execution/planning of experiments. Develop a work plan that can address problems with well understood solution paths.
• May be responsible to determine and evaluate material specification for improved performance. May be responsible to determine and evaluate tool/equipment specifications.
• May develop reliability tests for design validation/verification and life prediction of new product designs.
• May develop predictive models for lifetime estimation and reliability risk assessment based on data and ALT results.
• Effective communicator with internal and external partners and customers. Effective team member that can support cross‑functional projects and take ownership of sub‑deliverables.
• May train, mentor and manage junior associates.
• Complies with Company's Environmental, Quality, Safety or any other policies that have been enforced.
• Other duties as assigned.
• Job description subject to change at any time.
• May apply physics‑of‑failure principles to identify root causes of material and device degradation.

• Reports to Senior Manager, Reliability.
• May have direct reports.

• Up to 15% of travel required for both local and international destinations (e.g., site visits, conferences, supplier audits).

• $78,600-$112,000 Annually.

• Will sit, stand or walk short distances for up to the entire duration of a shift.
• Will climb stairs on an occasional basis.
• Will lift, push or pull up to 37 pounds on an occasional basis.
• Required to use hands to grasp, lift, handle, carry or feel objects on a frequent basis.
• 20/40 vision in both eyes together, with or without correction, is required.
• Must be able to comply with all safety standards and procedures.
• May reach above shoulder heights and below the waist on a frequent basis.
• May stoop, kneel, or bend, on an occasional basis.
• Ability to wear personal protective equipment is required (including but not limited to; steel‑toed shoes, gloves, safety glasses, hearing protection, protective jacket or apron and arm guards, and a condition of employment and continued employment (requires little or no facial hair) for…