Equipment Engineer - Metrology Tools - Western Digital

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Job Description

As an Equipment Engineer, you will maintain, improve, and ensure the reliability of metrology tools on a wafer manufacturing production line within a Class 100 cleanroom environment. This includes Optical Metrology, e-Beam Metrology, Overlay Metrology, X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), and other advanced tools. You will work collaboratively with process engineering, maintenance, manufacturing, vendors, and other cross-functional teams to optimize equipment performance and reliability. A successful candidate will work independently, demonstrate problem-solving skills, and be flexible to support team needs, including occasional overtime.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Preventive Maintenance and Troubleshooting
  • Perform preventive maintenance on assigned toolsets per established procedures.
  • Document maintenance activities on checklists and maintain accurate history in tool logbooks.
  • Diagnose and repair unscheduled failures, identifying root causes to reduce downtime and improve Mean-Time Between Failure (MTBF).
• Continuous Improvement:
  • Lead or participate in continuous improvement initiatives to enhance equipment reliability, availability, MTBF, and minimize Mean Time to Repair (MTTR).
  • Define, write, and update preventive maintenance procedures to maximize efficiency.
• Training & Mentorship:
  • Provide technical training and certification for maintenance personnel.
  • Mentor junior engineers and promote cross-functional collaboration.
• Data Analysis & System Integration:
  • Develop and support equipment upgrades by evaluating and installing sensors to capture real-time data and integrate with factory systems.
  • Analyze data using statistical tools (Excel, JMP, Spotfire) to diagnose and enhance preventive and predictive maintenance systems.
  • Characterize equipment data and collaborate with teams to incorporate it into factory systems (e.g., Fault Detection, SPC, MES).

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Optical, or a related technical field.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in equipment installation and repair within a semiconductor fab, HDD manufacturing, or a similar high-tech environment.
• Strong mechanical and electrical aptitude with the ability to interpret electrical schematics and assembly diagrams.
• Understanding of failure mechanisms and ability to conduct root-cause analysis.
• Proficiency in MS Windows software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).
• Effective communication skills and proven ability to collaborate with Maintenance, Manufacturing, Engineering, and cross-functional teams.
• Knowledge of control systems and/or PLC (Process Logic Control).
• Project management skills and ability to lead or contribute to cross-functional projects.
• Flexibility for occasional overtime and weekend work.

Preferred:

• Direct experience with Optical Metrology, e-Beam Metrology, Overlay Metrology, or XRF tools.
• Proficiency in data extraction and analysis from structured and unstructured sources, including tool logs, to support preventive maintenance improvements.

Key Skills and Abilities

• Strong interpersonal and training skills for mentoring and team collaboration.
• High level of adaptability, problem-solving ability, and independent decision-making skills.
• Experience with Lean Preventive Maintenance and continuous improvement methodologies.

Equal Employment Opportunity
Western Digital is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate against any applicant or employee based on their race, color, ancestry, religion (including religious dress and grooming standards), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), gender (including a person’s gender identity, gender expression, and gender-related appearance and behavior, whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth), age, national origin, sexual orientation, medical condition, marital status (including domestic partnership status), physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, protected medical and family care leave, Civil Air Patrol status, military and veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. We also prohibit harassment of any individual on any of the characteristics listed above. Our non-discrimination policy applies to all aspects of employment. We comply with the laws and regulations set forth in the “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal” poster. Our pay transparency policy is available here: Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision (dol.gov)

Western Digital thrives on the power and potential of diversity. As a global company, we believe the most effective way to embrace the diversity of our customers and communities is to mirror it from within. We believe the fusion of various perspectives results in the best outcomes for our employees, our company, our customers, and the world around us. We are committed to an inclusive environment where every individual can thrive through a sense of belonging, respect and contribution.

Western Digital is committed to offering opportunities to applicants with disabilities and ensuring all candidates can successfully navigate our careers website and our hiring process. Please contact us at jobs.accommodations@wdc.com to advise us of your accommodation request. In your email, please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying.

Based on our experience, we anticipate that the application deadline will be 01/08/2024 (3 months from posting), although we reserve the right to close the application process sooner if we hire an applicant for this position before the application deadline. If we are not able to hire someone from this role before the application deadline, we will update this posting with a new anticipated application deadline.

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