Senior R&D Technician, Space PV Prototyping

At Tandem PV, we are a team of people who are passionate about building a more sustainable world by bringing cost effective solar panels onto the market. We’re scaling metal-halide perovskite solar technology to make best-in-class mechanically stacked tandem modules.   We have built efficient, durable cells, monolithic multi-cell submodules, and packaged modules with our scalable, low-cost process. Our next focus is expanding our team to work in our new pilot manufacturing facility.

To be great at this role, you will:

- Build prototype modules and test coupons from drawings and build instructions: cutting, aligning and laying up covers, encapsulants, cells and substrates.
- Make electrical interconnects and terminations (soldering, welding, conductive adhesives, ribbon and wire attachment) and route and secure leads and harnesses.
- Laminate, bond and edge-seal assemblies, including very thin covers, and inspect for voids, bubbles, misalignment and edge-seal quality; handle ultrathin substrates and release them from carriers once formally qualified.
- Fabricate and modify fixtures, jigs, masks and shipping carriers using hand tools, basic machining, laser cutting or 3D printing.
- Run prototype-level tests and inspection: current-voltage under a solar simulator, electroluminescence imaging, continuity and insulation checks, optical microscopy, dimensional and mass measurement, and flex or thermal-cycle screening.
- Mount, label and wire coupon sets for exposure chambers and external test campaigns, and pack and ship them to test partners.
- Keep build logs and per-part travelers (materials and lot numbers, steps, cure conditions, operator, timestamps), and document deviations and damage with photos.
- Support upstream cell processing steps such as laser patterning when needed, give engineers feedback on how buildable a design is, and help write and improve build instructions.

Qualifications:

- 5+ years of hands-on experience in a laboratory, cleanroom, electronics assembly or precision manufacturing environment.
- Steady hands and patience for delicate manual work; this is the single most important qualification for the role.
- Fine electromechanical assembly skills: soldering, wire and ribbon termination, and adhesive dispensing.
- Meticulous documentation habits: detailed, legible and consistent build records.
- Follows written procedures exactly, and speaks up when a procedure or drawing does not match what is actually in front of you.
- Problem-solving orientation and the ability to work autonomously once trained, as part of a team in a scientific or technical environment.
- Comfortable reading engineering drawings, doing basic arithmetic and unit conversion, and using calipers, micrometers and a multimeter.
- Able to perform the essential functions of the role, with or without reasonable accommodation, including working in cleanroom garments, standing at a bench for extended periods, doing close work under magnification, lifting up to approximately 25 lb, and working safely with solvents, adhesives and chemical precursors and around Class 4 laser systems (training provided).

Preferred Experience:

- Space hardware, solar array, PV module or electronics assembly background, including handling thin glass, silicon wafers, flex circuits or display panels.
- Lamination, vacuum bagging, composite layup or encapsulation experience, or operation of laser cutting and scribing tools or solar simulators.
- Experience in an ISO 9001, AS9100 or similarly controlled environment, including IPC J-STD-001 or NASA-STD-8739 workmanship standards.

Tandem PV uses perovskite & silicon mechanically-stacked tandems to upgrade silicon solar panels, sharply decreasing installed systems costs, significantly increasing module manufacturing profit margins, and opening up vast new solar markets in the US and worldwide. TPV was co-founded by Stanford PhDs Colin Bailie and Chris Eberspacher; is advised by industry experts from Corning, First Solar, Vivint Solar, and Kateeva; has raised more than $50M in Series A funding. We were recently recognized as the Best Pre-Commercial Venture of 2025 by the Industry Growth Forum (IGF)

We are a team of people who are passionate about building a more sustainable world by delivering a new generation of solar panels to the market. We are constantly growing and are always looking for dedicated, hardworking, and empathetic teammates.

Tandem PV is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply.