As Head of Cleanroom Operations & Engineering, you will lead a growing team and shape the future of SAL's semiconductor R&D cleanroom. Combining operational excellence, engineering leadership and a strong focus on people development, you will enable cutting-edge research, drive technology transfer and build the capabilities needed to turn innovative ideas into robust, scalable processes.
Your future tasks include:
Lead and develop a growing cleanroom operations and engineering organization of approximately 40 employees, working through an established structure of team leaders and department-level management.
Ensure reliable and effective operation of the SAL semiconductor R&D cleanroom and continuously develop the organization to meet future growth and technology needs.
Manage the cleanroom cost center, including operating and capital budgets, resource planning and investment priorities.
Establish procedures, standards and operating practices that enable safe, flexible and efficient execution of advanced research and technology-development activities.
Develop the organization through recruitment, delegation of responsibilities, coaching, technical development and succession planning, while strengthening the existing leadership structure.
Define and implement operating principles and priorities that balance research flexibility with reproducibility, process discipline and operational reliability.
Support the continued ramp-up and development of the cleanroom infrastructure, including introduction and qualification of new equipment, tools, processes and supporting infrastructure.
Plan and coordinate the integration of new tools and capabilities into the cleanroom, ensuring that infrastructure and engineering capabilities evolve with the needs of the research programs.
Take over EHS responsibilities, particularly in the field of chemistry.
Enable the transition of research-developed processes toward robust, reproducible and scalable process flows and early productization.
Work closely with SAL research units to translate emerging technologies and research results into manufacturable processes and demonstrate technology readiness.
Support pilot prototyping activities where appropriate, while maintaining the flexibility required in an R&D environment.
Establish appropriate quality and process-control practices to support reproducibility, yield improvement, defect reduction and structured root-cause investigation.
Regularly align priorities, resources and capabilities with SAL management, research teams and supporting departments.
Your profile:
M.S. or PhD in semiconductor engineering, electrical engineering, materials science, physics or a related field.
Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in a technical leadership role within semiconductor, MEMS, microfabrication or a comparable cleanroom environment.
Proven leadership and management experience in a multidisciplinary technical organization, including experience working through team leaders or other levels of management.
Experience working at the interface between semiconductor research, process development and manufacturing.
Strong practical understanding of semiconductor fabrication and cleanroom operations.
Experience in transferring R&D process flows toward pilot production, low-volume manufacturing or early productization.
Experience with introducing and ramping up new equipment, processes and infrastructure in a cleanroom environment.
Knowledge of quality management, process control, yield improvement and structured problem solving.
Strong ability to balance research flexibility with operational discipline and reproducibility.
Source: Bundesagentur fur Arbeit — German Federal Employment Agency · Retrieved 2026-11-09 · Not affiliated with or endorsed by the German Federal Employment Agency
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