Chief Cell Technologist, PV Systems

Fluidstack

$160K — $200K *
Energy & Utilities
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 15+ years of experience in silicon PV cell technology with a successful track record of taking one cell architecture from concept to production.
  • Proven ability to build and defend a comprehensive loss budget across recombination, optical, and resistive losses.
  • Experience leading process transfers from pilot to production with a focus on resolving common issues such as tool matching and yield collapse.
  • Published or patented knowledge in areas like passivation, contacts, or device design.
  • Experience directing multi-disciplinary R&D teams and establishing their technical priorities.

Responsibilities

  • Select and define Fluidstack's cell architecture and technology roadmap to ensure efficiency and cost targets are achievable.
  • Develop a loss-analysis framework and efficiency entitlement model to assist engineers in identifying efficiency improvements.
  • Guide and prioritize the technical agenda of cross-functional teams in conjunction with the PV Cell Engineering Lead.
  • Oversee pilot line partnerships and manage the transition from pilot production to full-scale production, making key decisions between in-house and outsourcing.
  • Establish specifications for cell procurement and collaborate with suppliers to ensure alignment with internal production standards.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to work at the forefront of AI and photovoltaic technology.
  • Autonomous work culture with a focus on extreme ownership.
  • Emphasis on fast-paced execution and merit-based decision-making.
  • A team-oriented environment that values innovative ideas and challenging assumptions.
Full Job Description
How We Operate
  • Extreme ownership. Full autonomy. Own things end to end often taking on scope outside your core role without being asked to get things done.
  • Velocity. We drive everything forward as fast as possible.
  • First principles. Challenge every assumption. Zero analogy thinking, no egos, the best idea wins.
  • Love of the game. The frontier of AI is the most interesting problem of our time. We put in long hours at high intensity to push the frontier forward.


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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