MES Engineer

Position Summary

The MES Engineer owns the architecture, integration, and production reliability of the Manufacturing Execution System across the fab. This is a specialized role: you're designing robust MES/equipment interfaces, leading root cause analysis on the hardest production issues, mentoring junior developers, and driving Smart Factory initiatives. You're the person other engineers escalate to when a problem touches multiple systems at once — MES, equipment, database, and automation all colliding in one incident.

Responsibilities

System Architecture & Development

• Own the design and architecture of MES functions for lot/wafer/panel/carrier tracking, material movement, production transactions, holds, releases, rework, and shipping
• Translate ambiguous manufacturing and business requirements into concrete MES solutions, working directly with Manufacturing, Process Engineering, and Quality to scope them
• Set technical direction for how new features get built — data model, interface contracts, performance expectations — before implementation starts

Equipment & System Integration

• Lead equipment integration work using SECS/GEM, GEM300, EDA/Interface A, and other semiconductor communication standards
• Design and maintain B2B EDI, APIs, and system-to-system interfaces between MES, equipment, automation systems, and enterprise applications (ERP, WMS, QMS)
• Troubleshoot integration failures that span multiple systems — equipment interface timing issues, message queue backups, data mismatches between MES and downstream systems

Database & Backend

• Set standards for Oracle/MS-SQL schema design, PL/SQL package architecture, and query performance
• Handle the database troubleshooting that's too complex or high-risk for junior team members — deadlocks, data corruption, performance degradation under production load
• Review and approve schema changes and major stored procedure/package modifications before they hit production

Production Support & Reliability

• Lead root cause analysis for MES, application, database, equipment interface, and integration issues, including escalations from the Application Developer team
• Own production releases: system upgrades, cutover planning, rollback strategy, and post-deployment validation
• Monitor system performance proactively, identifying degradation trends before they become outages
• Carry on-call responsibility for production-critical MES applications in a 24/7 manufacturing environment

Leadership & Process

• Provide technical guidance and code review for junior developers and application developers on the team
• Maintain architectural documentation, functional specifications, and troubleshooting runbooks
• Provide technical support and training to users on MES functions

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field
• 5+ years in MES, manufacturing IT, or automation, including at least one full MES implementation, major upgrade, or system migration
• Strong C#/.NET, ASP.NET, C++; Python for tooling and automation
• Deep Oracle/PL/SQL experience: complex query tuning, package design, data troubleshooting under production constraints; MS-SQL a plus
• Hands-on SECS/GEM or equivalent equipment communication protocol experience — this is required, not preferred, for this level
• Demonstrated experience owning root cause analysis on multi-system production incidents
• Comfortable owning on-call/after-hours support and making judgment calls under pressure during production issues
• Strong communication skills — you'll be explaining technical tradeoffs to non-technical stakeholders regularly

Preferred

• Semiconductor, electronics, or high-volume manufacturing background
• Prior experience mentoring or leading a small technical team
• Exposure to multiple MES platforms or architectures (not just one system's quirks)
• Experience with Smart Factory / Industry 4.0 rollouts end-to-end