Director, Product Engineering & Management – Engineered Wafers

NexWafe is pioneering a new class of EpiNex® engineered silicon wafers for high-performance solar applications. To support the growing LEO satellite market, we are looking for a Director, Product Engineering & Management for our Team Engineered Wafers at our Freiburg location.
In this customer-facing leadership role, you will connect customer requirements, device physics, and NexWafe's epitaxial wafer platform to drive product development and qualification for space applications. Working closely with customers, engineering teams, cell manufacturers, and test partners, you will help bring innovative wafer technologies to market.
Join our international team and contribute to the future of sustainable energy and space technology.
- Own the EpiNex LEO product roadmap, translating customer requirements into wafer specifications, development priorities and qualification plans.
- Lead technical engagement with strategic LEO customers, including joint development and product qualification programs.
- Define engineered-wafer architectures including wafer thickness, doping level and doping profile based on cell performance, radiation environment and end-of-life power requirements.
- Work with NexWafe process and equipment teams to translate product requirements into manufacturable EpiNex wafer specifications.
- Define and prioritize experimental splits and use device modelling and experimental results to drive product iterations.
- Coordinate cell fabrication and characterization with external manufacturing partners and research institutes.
- Lead radiation and reliability qualification, including electron/proton irradiation, thermal cycling, UV and relevant space-environment testing.
- Analyze electrical and characterization data, including IV/EQE and radiation degradation, to understand performance mechanisms and guide product development.
- Build the technical and economic value proposition for engineered wafers versus conventional silicon and alternative space-PV technologies.
- Own product requirements, qualification status and technical documentation supporting customer adoption and commercialization.
- PhD, Advanced degree in Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, Physics or a related discipline.
- Minimum 10 years of experience in semiconductor or photovoltaic product engineering, applications engineering or technical product management.
- Strong understanding of semiconductor device physics and silicon solar-cell architectures, ideally including HJT and/or TOPCon.
- Strong cross-functional leadership skills, with a demonstrated ability to drive complex technical programs across teams and organizations without direct reporting authority.
- Experience translating customer requirements into product specifications and engineering development programs.
- Strong analytical capability in device (IV) characterization, experimental design and performance modelling.
- Experience leading complex customer qualification or joint-development programs across internal and external engineering teams.
- Excellent written, verbal communication skills. Ability to generate, world class, professional grade technical updates that that our customers in either technical or management functions will appreciate. 
- Comfortable operating directly with senior customer engineers, scientists and technical leadership.
- Space PV, radiation testing or satellite experience is highly desirable but not essential.
- A diverse team: Short decision-making processes, flat hierarchies and collaboration with experts from different areas await you.
- A diverse and exciting job: A company that contributes to the commercialisation of environmentally friendly solar energy with a low carbon footprint.
- Stability with a certain degree of flexibility: A permanent position with flexible working hours.
- Attractive remuneration programme: An attractive salary, a company pension scheme and profit-sharing for employees.
- Healthy balance: Take your physical and mental health to the next level with an annual health budget and a HanseFit membership!
- Expand your language skills: Optimise your career prospects with the language courses offered.
At NexWafe, we're striving to set a new standard for the future of photovoltaic wafer production. The need for efficient, affordable and cleanly produced solar technology has never been greater – we're rising to meet that challenge.