Senior Staff Systems Engineer

Job Title: Staff Systems Engineer

Location: On-Site (Oakland, CA)

Job Type: Full-Time

About Us

SirenOpt® provides manufacturing intelligence solutions that accelerate sustainable and smart manufacturing of advanced coatings, thin films and nano-scale materials, with demonstrated use cases across battery, aerospace, semiconductor, electronic and many other industries.

More specifically, SirenOpt is pioneering a paradigm shift in advanced materials characterization by leveraging cold atmospheric plasma, machine learning and predictive analytics to non-destructively create uniquely distinctive, multifaceted material fingerprints in real-time. SirenOpt transforms measurement blind spots into rich multi-layered material insights, which enable intelligent performance-centric decision-making. SirenOpt thus accelerates R&D and process optimization, enhances product performance, and delivers higher production quality to maximize value in both in-line and off-line applications.

Job Description

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Staff Systems Engineer to help us deliver a sensing and software platform that can be scalably integrated inside high-volume thin film manufacturing lines. As an early-stage member of the SirenOpt team, you will be able to make a real impact on next-generation thin film technologies and help build a solid technical foundation upon which a small company can grow. The ideal candidate will learn new concepts quickly and take pride in the quality of their work. We expect that you will be able to apply sound engineering judgment to solve a wide range of technical challenges efficiently and creatively. Some of these problems may lie outside your core areas of expertise, so technical curiosity and a self-starting attitude are critical for success.

This role offers an exciting opportunity to be at the forefront of technological innovation, working with cutting-edge systems in a collaborative and dynamic environment. If you are a driven and skilled engineer looking to make a significant impact in advanced manufacturing and the green energy transition, we encourage you to apply.

In this role you will:

• Heavily contribute to the architecture, system design and validation of the low-temperature plasma-based metrology sensor
• Interface with a small, cross-functional project team to research, develop, and validate new concepts for low-temperature plasma-based metrology
• Perform fundamental studies to characterize and understand the sensitivity of the sensor performance to various environmental factors
• Closely interact with both small and large clients to iterate on the design based on their feedback, paying close attention to integration speed
• Create and maintain technical design documentation (e.g., requirements, specifications, test plans, wiring diagrams, part schematics, and test reports)

You have:

• B.S./M.S./PhD in Engineering or Physics with 10+ years industry experience
• Experience developing automated metrology, inspection or diagnostic systems from initial requirements through system design, V&V, product launch and customer support
• Experience autonomously leading independent design projects, in particular those that involve designing a product that can be integrated into a larger system.
• Proficiency with use of Python, C, MATLAB or other simulation/modeling tools to model and evaluate system performance.
• Experience with hands-on development of prototypes, subsystems and system testing
• Experience with initiating and maintaining supplier support
• Experience with maintaining awareness of customer needs and iterating on designs accordingly
• Experience with capital equipment designed for integration into manufacturing lines – experience with roll-to-roll and/or sheet-to-sheet processes is a huge plus
• Familiarity with high-voltage devices, understanding plasma technologies is very helpful
• Experience with performing sensitivity analysis and using the results of those analyses to inform future designs e.g., quantifying a prototype’s sensitivity to certain environmental disturbances and creating a mechanical design that mitigates the effects of those disturbances
• Prior exposure to high-precision, high-throughput industrial designs for material handling, metrology, and/or process automation applications are a plus.
• Demonstrated the ability to adapt to new technical challenges and excited to work in a fast-paced, multi-disciplinary environment
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to rapidly create and iterate upon prototypes based on client and team feedback
• (Preferred) Experience with metrology equipment and sensors, particularly those used for metrology of advanced materials
• (Preferred) Some familiarity with thin films, in particular those related to Lithium- and Zinc-based battery electrodes, photovoltaics, optical coatings, displays, packaging materials, semiconducting wafers, and/or adhesives
• Mandarin fluency is a huge plus