Senior Manufacturing Engineer, Capacitor Production

Xcimer Energy leverages decades of research on Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) combined with groundbreaking new laser architecture. Our mission is to deploy fusion power plants to meet global decarbonization goals as fast as possible. Xcimer has assembled a team of leaders in tough tech, fusion science, and manufacturing with a track record of rapid execution. Supported by leading investors, Xcimer is uniquely positioned to deliver limitless, clean, fusion power to combat climate change. Join us in powering a better world with inertial fusion! 

As a Senior Manufacturing Engineer, you will own the health of the manufacturing processes running on Xcimer's wound film capacitor line in Tucson, Arizona — the capacitors that store and deliver the energy behind Xcimer's pulsed-power laser drivers. This is a floor-facing process engineering role on a line that is building product today and scaling toward rate. We are looking for an engineer who is relentless about quality, insistent about following process, and energized by making a running line measurably better every week. 

Responsibilities

Process Ownership and Documentation 

• Own the process execution for the released manufacturing processes on the capacitor line. 

• Author and maintain the work plans, work cards, setup sheets, and stage inspections that govern production in Boltline, and keep the released revision matched to what the line actually does. 

• Convert tribal knowledge into documented, repeatable, verified standard work. Where an operation depends on an individual's judgment, make that judgment explicit and teachable. 

• Maintain the process documentation set as a living system rather than a compliance artifact: reviewed on a cadence, corrected when it is wrong, and trusted by the people who use it. 

• Define and maintain process capability baselines, and establish the measurements needed to know whether a process is in control before it produces scrap. 

Yield, Quality, and Corrective Action 

• Own production yield and first-pass yield on mature processes. Monitor scrap, rework, and defect rates, and drive them down through verified process changes rather than added inspection. 

• Lead structured root cause corrective action (RCCA) on process-driven escapes and failures, through to verified, sustained closure — not to a plausible theory. 

• Investigate electrical acceptance test failures, including HiPot, and distinguish isolated defects from systemic process drift. Partner with Quality on the disposition of nonconforming material and on the technical content of NCR dispositions in Boltline. 

• Apply statistical process control and data analysis to reduce variation, and build the data collection into the process so the analysis is possible in the first place. 

• Contribute to and maintain PFMEAs for the processes you own, and close the actions they generate. 

• Audit the floor against documented standard work, and treat every gap as either a documentation defect or a training defect — then fix the one it is. 

Continuous Improvement and Production Rate 

• Drive day-to-day process improvements that raise yield, shorten cycle time, reduce cost, and steady output on the line as it is configured today. 

• Attack the constraints that actually set weekly output. Vacuum drying and impregnation run a multi-day fixed cycle across a limited number of tanks, and electrical acceptance testing can gate release independently of build rate; sequencing, batching, and capacity decisions around those operations deserve engineering attention before labor does. 

• Lead Lean initiatives focused on flow, waste reduction, and setup time, and sustain 5S standards as a condition of process control rather than as housekeeping. 

• Improve manufacturability of parts already in production by working the engineering change process with the design and development teams, with clear cost, yield, or rate justification. 

• Build every improvement with a sustainment plan: updated documentation, retrained operators, a defined measurement, and an audit that confirms it held ninety days later. 

• Quantify improvements honestly, including the ones that did not work, and keep a visible record of what has been tried. 

Equipment, Tooling, and Process Capability 

• Own the process side of production equipment: documented setup parameters, operating limits, qualification after maintenance, and the process impact of any equipment change. 

• Partner with Maintenance on preventive maintenance content, failure analysis, and the spares that protect the constraint operations. 

• Specify, procure, install, and qualify tooling, fixtures, and process equipment that improve capability or rate on the existing line, including acceptance criteria and a qualification plan before the purchase order. 

• Evaluate targeted automation and mechanization opportunities where they remove variation or a genuine bottleneck, and be honest about where manual process is still the right answer. 

Change Control and Qualification 

• Run process changes through change control. No change reaches the floor without updated work instructions, a qualification result, retrained and re-qualified operators, and documented approval. 

• Re-qualify affected operators on every process change, and keep Boltline group membership and the training matrix aligned so that only qualified people can sign off on an operation. 

• Support the qualification and transition of new and maturing processes into production, and accept ownership only when the process is genuinely ready — with documentation, capability data, and trained operators in place. 

• Host development and experimental runs on production equipment, scheduling them against committed build demand and protecting both the experiment and the delivery commitment. 

• Reinitiate the job hazard analysis when a process, material, or piece of equipment changes, and ensure the safety case is current before the change runs. 

Culture, Coaching, and Process Discipline 

• Be visibly present on the production floor every day. Process problems are found at the machine, not in a report about the machine. 

• Coach operators, technicians, and production leadership on why a process is specified the way it is, so that compliance rests on understanding rather than on instruction. 

• Hold the line when schedule pressure invites a workaround: stop the work, document the problem, and drive the fix through change control rather than around it. Escalate clearly and early instead of quietly absorbing risk. 

• Set the standard personally. Your documentation, your data, and your follow-through establish what good looks like for everyone else on the site. 

• Build habits that outlast any individual: daily management routines, visible metrics, and a shared expectation that the documented process is the real process. 

Safety 

• Design and operate processes so the safe method is the standard method, and verify that documented controls are actually in use. 

• Address the specific hazards on this line — solvents, oils, resins, elevated temperatures near drying and impregnation equipment, and stored energy in high-voltage test areas — through engineering controls first and procedure second. 

• Support safety incident investigations with process analysis, and carry the resulting corrective actions to closure. 

• Comply with OSHA regulations and company safety policy, and support the production organization's authority over safe operation of equipment and facilities. 

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing, Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, Materials, or Chemical Engineering, or a related technical field. 

• Experience: 7+ years of manufacturing or process engineering experience supporting active production, including direct responsibility for yield, rate, or process capability on a line that was shipping product. 

• Demonstrated record of measurable process improvement on a running line — specific problems, specific methods, specific results you can walk through. 

• Demonstrated commitment to process discipline: experience writing and enforcing work instructions, operating within change control, and holding a documented standard under schedule pressure. 

• Fluency in structured problem solving and root cause corrective action, and the judgment to know when a root cause has actually been proven. 

• Working knowledge of statistical process control, process capability, and practical data analysis. 

• Experience in electronics, capacitor, high-voltage, or precision manufacturing. 

• Credibility with operators and technicians, and the communication skills to coach, persuade, and push back effectively at every level. 

• Proficiency with a manufacturing execution system (MES) or ERP and with Microsoft Office. Xcimer runs Boltline; training will be provided. 

• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum. 

• Must be able to satisfy Xcimer's pre-employment background check. 

Desired

Experience with one or more of the following is highly desirable: 

• Film and foil capacitor manufacturing 

• High-voltage capacitor production 

• Winding operations and margin control 

• Metallization by twin-wire arc or flame spray, and swaging 

• Vacuum drying and impregnation processes 

• Resin potting or oil-filled capacitor assembly 

• Electrical acceptance and dielectric withstand (HiPot) testing 

• Pulsed power, high-energy-density, Marx generator, or pulse-forming network applications 

• Scaling a line from pilot build to rate production 

• Lean or Six Sigma certification, and PFMEA and control plan development 

• ISO 9001 or AS9100 quality systems 

• Establishing an operator qualification program from scratch 

• A modern cloud MES such as Boltline 

• Mentoring engineers or technicians, or building a small engineering team 

Equal Employment Opportunity

Xcimer Energy is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and is committed to attracting, retaining, and developing a highly qualified, diverse, and dedicated work force. Xcimer Energy hires and promotes people on the basis of their qualifications, performance, and abilities. We support the establishment and maintenance of a workplace that fosters trust, equality, and teamwork, in which all employees recognize and appreciate the diversity of individual team members. We provide all qualified applicants for employment and employees with equal opportunities for hire, promotion, and other terms and conditions of employment, regardless of their race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin/ethnicity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status, or any other status or characteristic protected by federal, state, and/or local law. Xcimer Energy will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws.

Benefits

Xcimer offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support employee health, well-being, and long-term success. Benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage; basic and supplemental life insurance; short- and long-term disability; paid parental leave for employees at the time of birth or adoption; and a 401(k) with a company match of up to 6%. Eligible employees also receive equity, allowing them to share in the company’s long-term success.

Xcimer operates under a flexible Paid Time Off (ATO) approach. Rather than a fixed number of vacation days, employees are trusted to take the time they need to rest and recharge while meeting the expectations of their role and team. In addition, employees receive paid sick time, 13 company-paid holidays, and an annual paid company shutdown. Benefits are available to regular employees, including part-time and fixed-term roles, as well as interns, with eligibility varying by benefit.