Manufacturing Engineer

Job Description

Job Description

About Us

At Active Surfaces, our mission is bold: to unlock clean energy in places traditional solar can't reach. Our technology, born from nearly a decade of materials science research at MIT, enables ultra-lightweight, flexible solar modules that install on rooftops, walls, and industrial surfaces once considered off-limits. With our platform, the built environment itself becomes a source of clean power.

Since our founding, we've rapidly emerged as one of the most exciting startups in climate tech, merging breakthrough science with advanced manufacturing. Backed by leading global investors and strategic partners — including J-POWER, Sabancı, and Lendlease — and having already deployed a paid pilot with a Fortune 500 partner, we're scaling quickly to support a growing pipeline of deployments and commercial opportunities through 2028.

We're expanding our team to support this next phase of rapid growth. These key hires will join a world-class group with deep expertise in semiconductor and perovskite research, roll-to-roll manufacturing, and commercial leadership across the energy sector.

Let's be direct about what this is. We're a small team taking on a genuinely hard problem—and we hire accordingly. This is a high-intensity, early-stage environment where the pace is fast and the work you do is load-bearing: it directly determines whether we scale. We look for people who hold themselves to an exceptionally high bar, want deep ownership, and are energized rather than daunted by ambiguity. The work is demanding; the upside—in impact, in career growth, and in equity—is meant to match it. Few people get to materially change whether clean energy reaches places solar never could. If that's the room you want to be in, you'll be surrounded by people who feel the same.

How we work:

• Tackle hard problems first — we front-load the hardest work to minimize wasted cycles and accelerate learning.
• Stay curious and creative — we thrive in ambiguity and push the boundaries of innovation.
• Thrive on feedback — we use it to grow quickly, as individuals and as a team.
• Act today, not tomorrow — we move with urgency and a bias toward action.
• Trust the team and be trustworthy — we communicate openly and show up reliably for one another.

If you hold yourself to that bar and want to shape the future of solar alongside us, we want to meet you.

About the Job

The Manufacturing Engineer I will be a key member of the manufacturing team under the supervision of the Chief Technology Officer and Chief Manufacturing Scientist, directly responsible for executing efforts toward our manufacturing goals. These include completing diverse tasks from operating, maintaining, and upgrading roll-to-roll coating machines; executing purchasing and managing inventory levels; and testing and characterizing produced panels. The Manufacturing Engineer I will also take a key role in working with the broader technical team to translate new materials and processes into stable and high yield manufacturing processes.

The ideal candidate has a Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline and 1-3 years of experience in a manufacturing environment, with preference for experience in roll-to-roll processing, semiconductor manufacturing, or other advanced material/high-volume manufacturing environments. We will also consider M.S. or PhD education levels, especially in the case of Perovskite or OPV roll-to-roll processes experience.

Above all else, we value someone who is a quick, enthusiastic learner, creative problem solver and willing to push the bounds of what would normally be considered ‘standard’. As our company quickly grows its manufacturing capabilities, we are looking for a team member who can grow and scale with us!

This role is eligible for visa sponsorship and relocation. This job will be located full-time on site in Woburn, MA at our Headquarters and Manufacturing Development site.

Responsibilities

• Operate roll-to-roll coating machines to deposit flexible solar panels according to recipes and protocols already defined.

• Be comfortable running multiple types of processes (slot-die, flexo, gravure) and be comfortable running newly developed processes.

• Assist in translating new processes and recipes into newly defined protocols with the Chief Manufacturing Scientist.

• Be capable of self defining and self scheduling machine use to achieve and hit the manufacturing departments goals.

• Maintain and oversee roll-to-roll coating equipment and coating and converting machines.

• CAD parts and layouts for equipment at the direction of the Director of Manufacturing.

• Self-lead and carry out structured design of experiments under the supervision of the Director of Manufacturing.

• Test and characterize panels through accessible techniques and protocols such as optical microscopy, JV testing, accelerated lifetime testing and other advanced techniques as they come online.

• Work with the broader technical team to assist in defining checks and balances to improve yields within manufacturing processes.

• Six-Sigma certification and a strong, almost perfectionist attitude toward maintaining controls and reducing process variation.

Requirements

• 1-3 years of experience in a commercial manufacturing environment.

• A bachelor’s degree in mechanical, electrical, chemical or other engineering discipline.

• Laboratory experience, adept at planning and conducting experiments, analyzing data and driving optimization.

• Demonstrated ability to work with multiple materials and openness to exploring new material systems and manufacturing methods.

• Passionate about innovation and able to bring creativity to the development of solar cell devices.

• Eager to contribute and learn in a collaborative and dynamic and fast paced start-up environment.

• Coursework or professional experience in CAD and design for manufacturing.

• Experience operating industrial technical equipment.

• High attention to detail and motivated attitude

Bonus Points

• Expertise in perovskite solar cells and/or organic photovoltaics (OPVs) or closely related semiconductor or optoelectronics field.

• Experience with R2R coating technology (slot-die, blade coating or related).

• Experience with cleanrooms and gloveboxes.

• Experience with various coding languages (Python, MATLAB, LabView) along with knowledge or willingness to learn R+D electrical system control and scripting (eg. Keithley 2400/2600 GPIB (IEEE-488), Ethernet or USB control).

• A willingness to ‘tinker’, or experiment to drive value and generate new ideas.

• Experience with setting electrical breadboard test systems.

• Experience with rapid prototyping manufacturing (3D printing/ CNC Machining).

• Experience with prototyping hardware (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, ESP32).

• Experience with electrical layout (Altium, EZCad)

Performance Bonus

All full-time employees are eligible for an annual performance bonus of up to 50% of base salary , assessed every six months. The structure is intentionally non-linear — top performers earn disproportionately more, and we want it that way. This isn't stack-ranked: if everyone is exceptional, everyone earns at the top. Your individual contribution is the primary driver, tied to both department and company outcomes. If you're a top performer, this is where we want that to pay off. Consistent high performance also influences base salary increases, with similar non-linear structures — so the compounding effect over time is significant.

Base salary offers are given based on the experience level of the candidate but applicants should expect base salary levels in-line with their experience level for the Boston area. We are willing to hire multiple exceptional candidates with this posting.

Perks

• Top-tier health and dental insurance (75% covered)

• 15 days vacation, 5 days personal leave

• Commute reimbursement (75%)

• Wellness program ($50/month)

• Cell Phone Reimbursement ($50/month)

• 401K Matching