R&D Process Engineer

About the company

At Swift Solar, our mission is to unlock the full potential of solar energy. We believe that solar energy has vast untapped potential to reduce inequity and protect planetary health in the face of global climate change. We believe that today’s solar technology is good but not good enough. And we believe that what we build today should serve humanity forever. 

Swift’s perovskite tandem technology breaks through the performance limits of existing solar technologies. By making solar better—more efficient, more affordable, and more widely accessible—we are helping to create a world where all energy is clean energy. 

Swift Solar is a mission-focused startup funded by committed investors. We know it’s a long journey to take a new clean energy technology to market, and we’re in it for the long haul together. If you join us, you’ll play a meaningful role in taking Swift’s impact to the next level.

A day in the life

Swift Solar’s R&D team is at the forefront of development of efficient, stable, and manufacturing-ready perovskite tandem solar cells. As an R&D Process Engineer at Swift, you will drive the development of processes, metrology, and materials for key thin film layers in the solar cell stack. You will perform systematic experiments to develop and optimize scalable deposition processes in collaboration with other scientists and technicians at Swift. You will develop metrology techniques to quantify the resulting materials properties. Success in this role will require ownership of continued maintenance, upkeep, and training of critical deposition and characterization processes. This work will feed into developing advanced solar cell stacks for efficiency, long-term stability, and scalability to gigawatt-level manufacturing, and will involve developing unit process specifications for thin film materials and processes to reach high reproducibility. Your input will be crucial to its translation to high-volume manufacturing. You might also work with chemical suppliers to source and qualify materials for manufacturing, and design new materials to achieve higher performance, stability, or scalability. 

As an early hire, you’ll help craft Swift’s culture. In this role you’ll be interacting with every part of the company, which will naturally lead to many opportunities to grow your own skills and responsibilities. We encourage you to take full advantage of these opportunities.

You might be a good fit if you have…

• A desire to work on the mission of making all energy clean energy
• Evidence of your having worked well on a collaborative team – showing strong communication and empathy
• A bachelors degree in chemistry, materials science, chemical engineering, or a closely related subject, advanced degree preferred
• Deep knowledge and ≥ 3 years experience in the processing, characterization, and reactivity of organic thin films

A strong candidate might bring one or more of the following...

• Experience with design of experiments to effectively optimize new materials or processes
• Knowledge of relationships between thin film properties and solar cell performance
• Knowledge of design and synthesis of organic molecules and their interactions with metal oxides and/or with perovskites
• Experience working with material scaleup and quality control e.g. with CROs 
• Experience with thin film deposition by solution coating, PVD, CVD, or other methods

The logistics

• Compensation: Competitive package including salary, equity, and benefits
• Expected Pay Range: $105,000-$160,000 per year
• Ideal start date: March – April 2025
• Job type: Full-time
• Location: San Carlos, CA (Swift Solar HQ)

What you’ll love about Swift

• Culture: We live by our values. You’ll feel right at home if you want to serve the future, get better every day, respect your colleagues, and have fun.
• Health benefits: We cover 100% of monthly premiums for HMO and PPO group healthcare plan options and 75% of dental and vision insurance costs for employees.
• Your future, supported: We offer 401(k) plans and match 100% of your retirement contributions up to 4% of your earnings.
• Clean commuter benefits: We’re all about clean energy. We make it easy and cheap to ride your bike or take public transit to work.
• Growth mindset: You’ll grow your skills, your network, and your perspective at Swift. We’ll support you in attending conferences and taking online courses, as long as you share your new insights with the team.

Swift is an equal opportunity employer. We value an inclusive work environment and welcome team members of all backgrounds and perspectives.

Even if this isn’t the right job for you, we’re always looking for good people. Please check out other career opportunities on our website and email us at [email protected] with any questions. And if you have a friend who would be a perfect fit, send them this link. Thanks!