Equipment Engineer, AWS Center for Quantum Computing – Fabrication

The Amazon Web Services (AWS) Center for Quantum Computing (CQC) in Pasadena, CA, is looking to hire an Equipment Engineer who will aid in AWS’s effort to bring cloud quantum computing services to its worldwide customer base. The candidate will work in a cleanroom environment alongside research scientists and process engineers, keeping complex semiconductor fabrication & characterization equipment in working order. Responsibilities include troubleshooting equipment-related issues, performing preventative maintenance and calibrations, interacting with vendors during the installation of new equipment and scheduled repairs, making self-guided & team-guided improvements to the lab infrastructure, and taking the lead on aspects of our equipment health program. The facility is focused on research and development, which utilizes equipment ranging from reactive ion etchers, to various material deposition tools, to advanced characterization instruments, most of which are classified as vacuum systems. The candidate will evaluate and develop procedures that provide maximum tool up-time for wafer processing and characterization while maintaining the equipment at optimal performance. Candidates must have a demonstrated background in fundamental engineering principles and must have excellent problem solving and communication skills. Successful candidates will have prior experience working in an academic or industrial fabrication facility, or similar. Working effectively within a team environment is critical.

Key job responsibilities
An Equipment Engineer troubleshoots problems related to equipment and other lab infrastructure, then devises and documents the solutions such that the problems can be more easily solved the next time they occur. When necessary, the Equipment Engineer works with field service engineers from the company that manufactured the equipment, scheduling service calls and supervising & documenting those engineers' work in our labs. The Equipment Engineer is responsible for improving the up-time of equipment, which involves developing better preventative maintenance (PM) plans, executing the PMs, performing equipment calibrations, owning equipment health initiatives, implementing new equipment-tracking initiatives in our manufacturing execution system (MES), and obsessing over the details of the equipment such that it can operate at peak performance. The Equipment Engineer may assist with the development and/or implementation of hardware modifications and new lab upgrades. The Equipment Engineer has ownership of equipment and lab spaces and is responsible for the reliable, excellent performance of our labs and everything that operates within it.

A day in the life
The Equipment Engineer performs a daily morning lab walkthrough to assess the state of their assigned lab areas and equipment. Based on priorities set by the team, the engineer works on solving new problems or existing problems from the previous day. Preventative maintenance checks and/or calibrations are performed according to a schedule. When time permits and there aren't problems to solve that are limiting team productivity, projects centered around the improvement of equipment and lab spaces are undertaken. In all aspects of the work, documentation of notes, procedures, fixes, and projects is pivotal. The engineer's goal is to maximize equipment up-time and performance so their teammates can operate the equipment reliably, and the whole team can deliver fabricated devices for quantum computing experiments.

About the team
Export Control Requirement:

Due to applicable export control laws and regulations, candidates must be either a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum, or be able to obtain a U.S export license. If you are unsure if you meet these requirements, please apply and Amazon will review your application for eligibility.

Our team is comprised of scientists and engineers who are building hardware that enables quantum computing technologies. Doing that requires the fabrication of quantum devices, which necessitates the operation of a suite of fabrication and characterization equipment. Equipment Engineers work to maintain and improve the equipment – and the labs in which the equipment is installed – and work alongside Process Engineers and Research Scientists to help deliver fabricated devices for quantum computing experiments.

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