Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
Technical leader with an established track record of developing new technologies, process scale-up, root cause analysis, resolving complex technical problems, and implementing statistical methods and data science at lab, pilot or manufacturing scale. Career trajectory illustrates proven ability to rapidly change fields and make an impact on new and emerging technologies: magnetism -> thin film solar -> semiconductor capital equipment -> metal 3D printing -> flexible circuitry
• Hired as Employee 9; built Process Engineering group from scratch; instituted statistical methods and rigorous experiment design, developed tool health monitoring, and established quality metrics • Advanced multiple customer engagements from prototype testing to high volume manufacturing; responsible for first manufacturing orders for the company in multiple industries (LED lighting and battery pack interconnect), which was integral to Series B fundraising • Responsible for start-up, de-bugging and qualification of custom roll-to-roll flexible circuit manufacturing line; led team that transferred technology from R&D prototype tools to higher volume manufacturing with >10x increase in maximum circuit footprint • Wrote custom Python-based database to integrate process tracking, metrology systems, and tool data, which enabled part traceability, prevented shipment of non-conforming parts, and drove quality improvement projects that resulted in >3x yield improvement during manufacturing ramp • Developed processes with external companies to enable traditional surface-mount technology (SMT) processing of custom flexible circuits in order to facilitate high-volume deployment
• Promoted from Individual Contributor to Executive Staff after 6 weeks; Doubled size of group and instituted 24/7 R&D operations to support company expansion • Delivered demonstration part set, which was essential in securing first customer contracts and Series B funding • Developed company’s technology roadmap, which focused engineering efforts on critical path, created timeline for customer delivery, and revealed strategic pivot points; Improved alignment between individual projects by illustrating convergence towards common deliverables • Instituted initiatives to streamline process development: daily/weekly monitoring for process/tool drift; rigorous documentation of procedures; templates for experimental design, project management, and root cause analysis; formal training in applied statistics and DOE
• Scaled up company’s differentiated metal 3D printing technology; Increased maximum part size by >100x volumetrically and generalized process to arbitrary geometry
• Process development technical lead for next generation pre-clean chamber for CVD growth. • Developed fast feedback process development techniques that significantly increased rate of process development; used surface-science techniques to accurately predict quality of film growth on substrates • Added responsibility of customer-facing role as technical expert for pre-clean chamber; responsible for providing customer updates, traveling to face-to-face meetings, and ensuring technical milestones are delivered on time and according to specifications • Founding member of business unit’s statistics council; provides mentorship on experimental design, data analysis and statistical methods to junior engineers
• Technical leader focused on efficiency improvement of printed thin film CIGS solar cells • Transfer of next-generation cell technology from concept phase to manufacturing scale • Improved efficiency of manufacturing experimentation by using statistical analysis to implement experimental designs with improved signal-to-noise ratio and reduced manufacturing footprint • Responsible for design, implementation and analysis of screening and response surface experiments using DOE for process development, process window identification, and materials/tool qualification