Chief Cell Technologist, PV Systems

Fluidstack

• $150K — $180K *
Energy & Utilities
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 15+ years in silicon PV cell technology with experience in TOPCon, HJT, or back-contact architectures.
  • Proven ability to build and defend a full loss budget across recombination, optical, and resistive losses.
  • Experience leading process transfers from pilot to production, with insights into common pitfalls.
  • Published or patented expertise in passivation, contacts, or device design.
  • Demonstrated leadership of multi-disciplinary R&D teams, setting technical priorities effectively.
  • Ability to commit to and defend efficiency and cost trajectories under pressure.
  • Bonus: Experience with SunPower/Maxeon, Fraunhofer ISE, or pilot line buildout.

Responsibilities

  • Own the selection of Fluidstack's cell architecture and defend the technology roadmap.
  • Build a comprehensive loss-analysis framework for efficiency entitlement across various loss types.
  • Direct the technical agenda for process, device physics, and characterization teams in collaboration with the PV Cell Engineering Lead.
  • Scope and manage pilot line partnerships, overseeing technology transfer from pilot to production.
  • Set procurement specifications for cells and drive co-engineering with suppliers to ensure quality alignment.

Benefits

  • Commitment to pay equity and transparency.
Full Job Description
The Product Engineering, Photovoltaics (PV) Team

The PV Product Engineering team is building a captive photovoltaic supply chain to power gigawatt-scale AI infrastructure, starting at the cell.

Examples of key problems the team is working on:
  • Select and commit to a silicon cell architecture (TOPCon, HJT, or back-contact) and the efficiency and cost trajectory that decision locks in for years.
  • Build the loss-analysis and efficiency entitlement framework that tells every process and device engineer where the next basis point of efficiency comes from.
  • Stand up pilot line partnerships and a technology transfer path from pilot to production that survives contact with a real fab.
  • Set cell procurement specs and co-engineer with suppliers so the buildout keeps moving while our own line comes up.
Role Scope
  • Own the selection of Fluidstack's cell architecture (TOPCon, HJT, or back-contact) and the technology roadmap behind it, with an efficiency and cost trajectory you can defend to a CEO and a fab partner alike.
  • Build the loss-analysis framework and efficiency entitlement model, decomposed across recombination, optical, and resistive losses, rigorous enough that every process and device engineer knows exactly where their next basis point comes from.
  • Direct the technical agenda of the process, device physics, and characterization teams in partnership with the PV Cell Engineering Lead, setting priorities that close real gaps to entitlement.
  • Scope and manage pilot line partnerships, and own the technology transfer strategy from pilot to production, including the make-vs-partner call.
  • Set cell procurement specs and drive supplier co-engineering while our own line comes up, so the cells we buy meet the same bar as the cells we intend to build.
What We're Looking For

The below is a starting point. We always make space for exceptional people, so if you don't fit this role exactly, tell us where you would.
  • 15+ years in silicon PV cell technology, with at least one cell architecture (TOPCon, HJT, or back-contact) taken from concept to production efficiency targets, and the roadmap behind it owned by you.
  • You've built and defended a full loss budget across recombination, optical, and resistive losses, and closed real gaps to entitlement on a shipping cell.
  • You've led process transfers from pilot to production and know firsthand what breaks, from tool matching to yield collapse.
  • You hold published or patented depth in passivation, contacts, or device design.
  • You've directed multi-disciplinary cell R&D teams spanning process, device physics, and characterization, and set their technical priorities.
  • You can commit to an efficiency and cost trajectory and defend it under pressure, to a CEO and a fab partner alike.
  • Bonus: SunPower/Maxeon, Fraunhofer ISE, ISC Konstanz, or UNSW lineage, FEOC-clean supply chain exposure, back-contact architecture depth, or pilot line buildout experience.


We are committed to pay equity and transparency.

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