Equipment 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 Equipment Engineer keeps our manufacturing line and facility running. Under the supervision of the Chief Technology Officer and Chief Manufacturing Scientist, you own the health of our roll-to-roll coating and converting equipment — and the building systems that support it. The role sits at the intersection of equipment, maintenance, and facilities engineering: one day you diagnose a drive fault on a coater, the next you commission a new tool, manage the spare-parts inventory, or sort out compressed air and exhaust for a new process. We want a hands-on engineer who learns fast and works with their hands. You don't need to have done all of this before — you need to figure it out and make sure the thing runs. As our manufacturing capabilities grow, this role grows with us.

The ideal candidate has a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering (or a related discipline) and 1–3 years keeping industrial equipment or facilities running, with preference for experience in roll-to-roll processing, semiconductor manufacturing, or other advanced-material/high-volume environments. Above all, we value a quick, enthusiastic learner and hands-on problem solver who takes ownership of uptime and is willing to push past what's normally considered 'standard.' The most important trait is having a high bar for quality and not be afraid to get their hands dirty with real manufacturing systems.

This job is located full-time on site in Woburn, MA at our Headquarters and Manufacturing Development site.

Responsibilities

• Maintain, troubleshoot, and repair roll-to-roll coating and converting equipment; maximize uptime and respond fast to breakdowns.

• Build and run preventive-maintenance schedules; track equipment health and drive down unplanned downtime.

• Install, commission, relocate, and upgrade equipment as the line scales.

• Own the facilities systems that support production — compressed air, exhaust, electrical, plumbing, process gases, HVAC, and cleanroom infrastructure.

• Manage spare-parts and consumables inventory; execute purchasing and maintain stock levels.

• CAD replacement parts, fixtures, and layouts; fabricate or source as needed.

• Manage vendors, service contracts, and equipment installations.

• Partner with process and manufacturing engineers to improve equipment reliability and yield.

• Keep the operating floor safe and compliant — maintain controls, documentation, and housekeeping, with a near-perfectionist attitude toward reducing variation.

Requirements

• A bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or a related discipline.

• 1–3 years maintaining equipment or facilities in a manufacturing or industrial environment.

• Hands-on troubleshooting across mechanical, electrical, and pneumatic systems.

• Comfort reading schematics, service manuals, and P&IDs.

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

• A quick, versatile learner who takes deep ownership and thrives in a fast-paced startup.

• High attention to detail and a strong bias toward action.

Bonus Points

• Experience with roll-to-roll coating or converting equipment (slot-die, flexo, gravure).

• Experience with cleanrooms and gloveboxes.

• PLCs, HMIs, and industrial controls (Phoenix Contact, Allen-Bradley, Siemens).

• Facilities systems — HVAC, vacuum, compressed air, process gases.

• CMMS or maintenance-management software.

• Welding, machining, or fabrication (3D printing, CNC).

• Coding for automation or diagnostics (Python, MATLAB, LabVIEW).

• Prototyping hardware (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, ESP32).

• A willingness to 'tinker' — to experiment, drive value, and generate new ideas.

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 (90% covered)

• 15 days vacation, 5 days personal leave

• Commute reimbursement (75%)

• Wellness program ($50/month)

• Cell Phone Reimbursement ($50/month)

• 401K Matching