Deposition & Etch Equipment and Production Engineer (H/F)

Alice & Bob is developing the first universal, fault-tolerant quantum computer to solve the world’s hardest problems. The quantum computer we envision building is based on a new kind of superconducting qubit: the Schrödinger cat qubit 🐈‍⬛. In comparison to other superconducting platforms, cat qubits have the astonishing ability to implement quantum error correction autonomously!   We're a diverse team of 250+ brilliant minds from over 35 countries united by a single goal: to revolutionise computing with a practical fault-tolerant quantum machine. Are you ready to take on unprecedented challenges and contribute to revolutionising technology? Join us, and let's shape the future of quantum computing together!

The role

We've just built a cleanroom in Aubervilliers dedicated to the fabrication of superconducting quantum devices — a step change in our wafer capacity and in how fast we can iterate on qubit designs. The Cleanroom Operations team, created now, owns the throughput of that line.

You join as a Tool Owner and hands-on production engineer on the deposition and etch scope: superconductor deposition, metal evaporation including shadow-angle evaporation, and dry etching. These are the long-run tools the weekly output depends on — when a chamber goes down, the line feels it within a day.

You're accountable for a defined set of tools: their uptime, their maintenance, their utilization, and the qualified recipes that run on them at industrial cadence. For each tool you form a binome with a Process Owner from Process Development Engineering — you own the asset and its execution, they own the recipe and its process window, and you solve the hard problems and qualify operators together. Recipe ownership and process innovation sit with them; making the tool deliver, reliably and at cadence, is yours.

You're joining a team at its creation, reporting to the Cleanroom Operations Manager. You'll build the operation rather than inherit one.

We're hiring two Tool Owners for this team, one on lithography and one on deposition and etching. If your experience spans both, apply to whichever fits best — we'll route you.

Responsabilities

Your tools

• Uptime, maintenance, execution and utilization of your process equipment.
• Preventive maintenance, first-level troubleshooting, supplier interventions, spares and consumables.
• Monitoring tool performance, and acting on parameter drift before it turns into scrap.

The weekly load plan

• Turn the weekly wafer launch plan into a tool-level plan: maintenance, qualification runs, downtime, engineering time allocated to Process Development Engineering, and each tool's unattended-run pattern.
• Level the load across qualified technicians, replan when a tool goes down, and flag early when the plan and the committed output no longer agree.

Execution at cadence and quality

• Run qualified recipes on experimental and test wafers, including the long unattended runs on critical tools.
• Escalate any step outside the process of reference to Process Development Engineering, and keep full traceability in the MES.

Operational documentation

• Write and improve the SOPs for your tools, turning implicit know-how into something a new operator can follow.
• Qualify and train technicians, jointly with your Process Owner counterpart.

Continuous improvement

• Remove bottlenecks on your tools — cycle time, batch size, load configuration, changeover — and feed the capacity model and ramp plan.
• Track and report your KPIs; contribute to failure analysis when a fabrication cause is suspected.

Safety

• Apply cleanroom, chemical handling and equipment safety rules, and contribute to risk assessments, including for unattended operation.

Requirements

• 3+ years hands-on in a semiconductor cleanroom, pilot line, or micro/nanofabrication facility.
• Direct experience operating and maintaining process equipment — not only specifying or supervising it. Equipment field service experience counts.
• Preventive maintenance, troubleshooting and supplier coordination on capital equipment.
• Hands-on command of at least one of: UHV sputtering and deposition systems (cryogenic pumping, chamber and source maintenance, target and crucible changes); metal evaporation, ideally including angle or shadow evaporation; plasma etching (ICP-RIE) with chamber conditioning, endpoint detection and etch rate monitoring.
• Solid grounding in semiconductor unit processes and in vacuum systems and their maintenance.
• Comfort with production and equipment data: MES or equivalent, spreadsheets, basic statistical analysis of tool and process data.
• Experience building a load plan under equipment, maintenance and personnel constraints, and reporting against it.
• Experience writing SOPs and training people on them.
• An ownership mindset: the availability and output of your tools are your result, not someone else's.
• The judgement to stop a run and escalate, and the habit of communicating bad news factually and early.
• Master's or engineering degree in microelectronics, materials science, physics or a related field — or equivalent experience.
• Working English. French is not required — our fab teams work in English.

Also valued — superconducting materials, Josephson junction or quantum device fabrication; thin film characterization (thickness, resistivity, uniformity); R&D or pilot-line environments where production and development share the same tools; commissioning or qualifying tools in a new facility.

Working conditions

On site in Aubervilliers, in cleanroom garment daily. Standard working hours — no shift work and no night work.

Recruitment process

1. Screening call with Alexandra, Talent Acquisition (30 min)
2. Interview with the Cleanroom Operations Manager (45 min)
3. Technical interview with the team (60 min)
4. Leadership and fit interview (60 min)

Benefits:   - Our success is your success: own it with our BSPCE plan - Direct IP Compensation: Earn substantial bonuses for driving the core patents that define our quantum architecture. - A Parental plan including additional benefits such as crèche support or additional days-off to take care of under 12 years old children - Subsidized membership with Urban Sports Club - Mental health support with moka.care - 25-day vacation policy (as per French law) + RTT - Half of transportation cost coverage (as per French law), or yearly allowance for the die-hard bicycle users - Competitive health coverage, with Alan. - Meal vouchers with Swile, as well as access to a fully equipped and regularly stocked kitchen - French language courses covered by the company for those interested     Research shows that women might feel hesitant to apply for this job if they don't match 100% of the job requirements listed. This list is a guide, and we'd love to receive your application even if you think you're only a partial match. We are looking to build teams that innovate, not just tick boxes on a job spec.   You will join of one of the most innovative startups in France at an early stage, to be part of a passionate and friendly team on its mission to build the first universal quantum computer!   We love to share and learn from one another, so you will be certain to innovate, develop new ideas, and have the space to grow.