Head of Manufacturing

Our client is a company building the energy core of Space 3.0 and frontier tech. The team is pioneering ultra-light, power-dense solar platforms based on next-generation 2D semiconductors, enabling a step-change in how and where solar power can be deployed — from satellites and high-altitude aircraft to lunar and Martian infrastructure.

Spun out of Stanford University, the company combines breakthroughs in materials science, device physics, and scalable manufacturing to deliver the most power-efficient and lightweight solar technology ever built. With over $370M in LOIs/off-take agreements and a clear roadmap from pilot (2026) to gigawatt-scale production by 2030, this team is on a mission to power the next generation of space and terrestrial systems.

The company is backed by leading deep-tech investors and advised by industry pioneers. The headquarters and pilot facility are in South San Francisco, CA, where the team is scaling across R&D, manufacturing, and systems integration.

The Head of Manufacturing will be one of the company’s first technical leaders and a key contributor to the design and scale-up of its coating processes.

You will transform lab-scale ink formulations into uniform, functional thin films that form the foundation of the company’s photovoltaic architecture.

Your work will center on developing and optimizing slot-die, blade, and related coating methods for solution-processed semiconductors and charge-transport layers. You’ll collaborate closely with materials and device teams to link film quality to photovoltaic performance and guide the transition from R&D to pilot-line production.

• Develop, refine, and scale solution-based coating protocols (slot-die, blade, micro-gravure, etc.) for multilayer PV films.
• Translate ink formulations into high-quality coatings with controlled wetting, drying, thickness, uniformity, and continuity.
• Characterize thin films for their optical (UV/Vis, ellipsometry, etc.), electrical (4-point probe, Hall effect measurement, kelvin probe, IV, etc.), and physical (AFM, SEM, profilometry, etc.) properties to guide process optimization.
• Study the influence of ink chemistry and rheology, substrate surface energy and ink wetting, drying kinetics, and post-deposition processing on film continuity and performance.
• Collaborate with device and materials teams to link material inputs and deposition parameters to photovoltaic metrics (Jsc, Voc, FF, stability, etc.).
• Help design and scale experimental setups — including deposition/drying systems (IR/convection drying, air-knife systems, and web handling, etc.) as well as film characterization systems.
• Document process parameters, yield data, and continuous-improvement learnings in a reproducible framework.
• Contribute to safety, workflow, and process documentation as the company scales toward pilot-line production.

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Applied Physics, or related field.
• 5+ years of hands‑on experience with solution-processed thin‑film deposition (slot-die, blade, spin, or similar).
• Proven ability to produce continuous, uniform thin films (