GUI Machine Control Software Engineer

The Company

Halo Industries has invented a technology to replace a decades-old semiconductor material wire saw slicing process that wastes billions of dollars annually in high-value materials.

Halo’s laser-based technology eliminates this waste from the silicon carbide (SiC) substrate manufacturing process, delivering improvements in both material cost and performance, while enabling accelerated growth for a diverse set of high-growth application markets, including the electric vehicle, grid infrastructure, industrial HVAC and other high-voltage power electronics sectors.

Halo originally spun out of Stanford University in 2014, acquiring a significant series A round of VC funding in 2020 following the successful demonstration of the company’s precision material slicing equipment. Having recently closed on an $80M+ B round of VC funding, Halo is driving the fast-scale growth of the company’s team and manufacturing operations.

Halo Industries is well-funded, deeply engaged with multiple strategic customers, and staged to achieve rapid operational, revenue, and valuation growth.

The Opportunity

The evolution of Halo’s technology and equipment, growing from an R&D focus to a production manufacturing environment, has triggered the need for a Machine Control Software Engineer who can contribute to the design, development, and deployment of the company’s production line equipment control and automation strategy.

Job Description

• Develop and maintain easy-to-use Graphical User Interfaces for manufacturing equipment in C#, WPF and PyQt
• Develop and maintain software applications for equipment communication and integration into factory systems using C# and Python.
• Ensure data connectivity between equipment, manufacturing systems, and databases including PostgreSQL
• Write high level device drivers for robotics, motion control, lasers and data acquisition
• Manage equipment data and equipment logging systems
• Integrate custom and off-the-shelf device drivers into reliable, robust operator controllable state machines
• Perform thorough testing and debugging from the system level down to the component level
• Maintain thorough documentation and version control
• Work closely with mechanical, electrical, systems, optical, process, and NPI engineers
• Implement Factory Automation features and operations

Requirements

Preferred Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science or a related technical field with 3+ years of applicable experience
• Candidates with advanced degrees may qualify for a given position with fewer years of experience.

What We’re Looking For

• Knowledge of best practices for implementing high-reliability production line instrument control systems
• Experience building instrument control systems using both PLC and PC environments
• Knowledge of hardware communication protocols (e.g. Modbus, TCP/IP, serial, ASCII, USB)
• Working knowledge of servos, motors, sensors, actuators, I/O devices, and relays
• Experience with a variety of programming languages used in industrial automation (preferably including C# GUI development experience, SEMI E95 helpful)
• Factory automation experience, including distributed control and centralized data acquisition and database storage
• Experience with source control (preferably Git)
• Product and process development experience leading to an ability to understand the desired system behaviors
• Outstanding detail-oriented analytical, creative, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to think critically to diagnose issues and optimize complex processes
• Ability to work self-sufficiently with minimal oversight

Bonus

• Semiconductor manufacturing experience
• Experience with SECS/GEM SEMI Standards, Factory Automation, SEMI E30, E10, E95

• Expertise in mechatronics/automation design (motor sizing, actuator design, sensor selection, etc.)

• Past startup experience and insights/lessons learned on effectively scaling from R&D to production
• Experience with Akka.Net or other Actor Frameworks
• Experience selecting and configuring databases and/or interfacing databases to factory automation
• Experience with Python for hardware control, graphical user interfaces and data analysis

Benefits

• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
• Retirement Plan (401k, IRA)
• Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
• Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
• Family Leave (Maternity, Paternity)
• Free Food & Snacks
• Stock