Staff Machine Control Software Engineer

The Company

Halo Industries has invented a technology to replace a decades-old semiconductor material wire saw slicing process that wastes billions of dollars annually in high-value materials.

Halo's laser-based technology eliminates this waste from the silicon carbide (SiC) substrate manufacturing process, delivering improvements in both material cost and performance, while enabling accelerated growth for a diverse set of high-growth application markets, including the electric vehicle, grid infrastructure, industrial HVAC and other high-voltage power electronics sectors.

Halo originally spun out of Stanford University in 2014, acquiring a significant series A round of VC funding in 2020 following the successful demonstration of the company's precision material slicing equipment. Having recently closed on an $80M+ B round of VC funding, Halo is driving the fast-scale growth of the company's team and manufacturing operations.

Halo Industries is well-funded, deeply engaged with multiple strategic customers, and staged to achieve rapid operational, revenue, and valuation growth.

The Opportunity

The evolution of Halo's technology and equipment, growing from an R&D focus to a production manufacturing environment, has triggered the need for an experienced Senior Machine Control Software Engineer who can lead the design, development, and deployment of the company's production line equipment control and automation strategy.

Job Description

Manage the software deliverables of Contract Manufactures ensuring the deliverables meet company standards

Develop and maintain software applications for equipment communication and integration into factory systems.

Implement Factory Automation features and operations

Define control standards to be implemented uniformly across the production line

Evaluate and select industrial controller hardware (e.g. PC, PLC, embedded microcontroller)

Write high level device interface for robotics, motion control, lasers, and data acquisition

Integrate custom and off-the-shelf device drivers into reliable, robust operator controllable state machines

Develop easy-to-use operator graphical user interfaces

Perform thorough testing and debugging from the system level down to the component level

Maintain thorough documentation and version control

Work closely with mechanical, electrical, system, and NPI engineers

Requirements

Basic Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science or a related technical field with 10+ years of applicable experience

Candidates with advanced degrees may qualify for a given position with fewer years of experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

Knowledge of best practices for implementing high-reliability production line instrument control systems

Experience building instrument control systems using both PLC and PC environments

Knowledge of hardware communication protocols (e.g. Modbus, TCP/IP, serial, ASCII, USB)

Working knowledge of servos, motors, sensors, actuators, I/O devices, and relays

Experience with a variety of programming languages used in industrial automation (preferably including C# GUI development experience, SEMI E95 helpful)

Factory automation experience, including distributed control and centralized data acquisition and database storage

Experience with source control (preferably Git)

Product and process development experience leading to an ability to understand the desired system behaviors

Outstanding detail-oriented analytical, creative, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to think critically to diagnose issues and optimize complex processes

Excellent communication skills and the ability to lead and work effectively within an interdisciplinary team

Bonus

Semiconductor manufacturing experience

Experience with Human Machine Interaction systems

Experience with Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)

Experience with SECS/GEM SEMI Standards, Factory Automation, SEMI E30, E10, E95

Expertise in mechatronics/automation design (motor sizing, actuator design, sensor selection, etc.)

Past startup experience and insights/lessons learned on effectively scaling from R&D to production

Experience with Akka.Net or other Actor Frameworks

Experience selecting and configuring databases and/or interfacing databases to factory automation

Experience with Python for hardware control, graphical user interfaces and data analysis

Benefits

• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
• Retirement Plan (401k, IRA)
• Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
• Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
• Family Leave (Maternity, Paternity)
• Free Food & Snacks
• Stock Option Plan
• Short Term & Long Term Disability
• Base salary $170,000 - $190,000

AdditionalInformation

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all team members feel valued and supported. We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented communities in STEM. If you meet most of the qualifications and are excited about this opportunity, we encourage you to apply.

Qualification

Bachelor's Degree