Principal Process Engineer, Etch

Location: Newport, United Kingdom. Full-time role with occasional domestic and international travel, including to the United States, and occasional shift work.

Company

hirify.global develops semiconductor inspection, metrology, process, and computational analytics solutions for chip and electronics manufacturing.

What you will do

• Lead the development and qualification of advanced plasma etch process technologies.
• Optimize processes to meet customer specifications and production performance requirements.
• Develop and validate physics-based and computational models using CFD, plasma, thermal, electromagnetic, and multi-physics approaches.
• Correlate simulation results with experimental data and provide data-driven guidance for engineering decisions.
• Lead root cause analysis, reliability investigations, process control strategies, SPC frameworks, and key PLC etch projects.
• Collaborate with hardware, software, NPI, manufacturing, field, and customer teams; mentor engineers and contribute to patents and technical publications.

Requirements

• Experience with semiconductor equipment hardware and process interactions.
• Hands-on experience with plasma etch equipment, metrology such as SEM, and endpoint methods/OES.
• Experience with simulation and modelling tools such as COMSOL, ANSYS, MATLAB/Simulink, OpenFOAM, or Python.
• Strong knowledge of DOE, statistical analysis, 8D, process optimization, failure analysis, and defect characterization.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, ownership, time-management, and multitasking skills.
• MSc or PhD in Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, or a related field; PhD preferred, or equivalent experience.

Nice to have

• Experience with semiconductor processes, plasma modelling, CFD, or digital twins.
• Experience writing invention disclosures, patent applications, and technical papers.

Culture & Benefits

• 25 days of annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Share scheme, contributory pension scheme, cash health plan, cycle to work scheme, global bonus plan, rewards scheme, and life assurance.
• Customer installation and development travel may be required.
• Some roles may require permits, licenses, or other approvals to access specific technologies, systems, or information.