Principal Associate Engineer, Reliability Lab

Job Title

Principal Associate Engineer, Reliability Lab

Role Summary

Lead daily execution and operations of a semiconductor reliability test laboratory to ensure reliable, traceable, and on-time test results. Own equipment uptime, preventive and corrective maintenance, vendor coordination, and lab performance metrics to support qualification, monitoring, change requests, and line-issue investigations.

Experience Level

Mid-level — minimum 4 years of relevant experience in semiconductor or reliability lab operations.

Responsibilities

Accountable for reliable lab operations and equipment health; collaborate with engineering, quality, manufacturing and vendors to resolve issues and improve performance.

• Lead daily reliability lab operations to ensure safe, accurate, traceable, and timely test execution.
• Prioritize and schedule reliability tests for qualification, monitoring, change requests, customer support, and line-issue investigations.
• Own equipment uptime via preventive and corrective maintenance, spare-parts planning, calibration readiness, and tool health monitoring.
• Lead troubleshooting, fault recovery, root-cause analysis (RCA), corrective actions (CAPA), and restart verification for equipment and test failures.
• Coordinate vendor service, repairs, parts replacement, escalations, and post-service verification.
• Maintain QMS, audit readiness, EHS, ESD, 6S, calibration, documentation, and lab-control compliance.
• Track and report lab and equipment KPIs (uptime, downtime, utilization, MTBF/MTTR, PM/calibration completion, repeat faults).
• Drive continuous improvement to increase equipment availability, reduce cycle time, and improve data integrity and productivity.
• Coach and guide engineers, technicians, and new hires on equipment operation, maintenance, troubleshooting, and safe lab practices.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience to perform the role.

• Minimum 4 years' experience in semiconductor or reliability lab operations, equipment maintenance, or equipment engineering.
• Hands-on experience with reliability test equipment and environmental/test systems (probers, testers, burn-in systems, chambers, ovens, automated lab/manufacturing tools, SMUs).
• Proven ability to lead equipment troubleshooting, PM/CM activities, fault recovery, restart verification, and maintenance documentation.
• Experience coordinating vendors, service engineers, external repair providers, spare-parts procurement, service visits, quotations, and escalations.
• Working knowledge of reliability testing processes, qualification support, change requests, line-issue support, QMS, audit readiness, calibration procedures, ESD controls, 6S, and safety requirements.
• Clear technical communication and documentation skills; ability to guide technicians and cross-functional stakeholders.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience in an accredited or regulated manufacturing/laboratory environment.
• Familiarity with JEDEC, ISO/IEC 17025, ISO 9001 or IATF 16949 concepts and audit requirements.
• Experience managing vendor scorecards, service reviews, recurring fault escalation, or technical service reviews.
• Training or certification in Lean Six Sigma, 8D, RCA, FMEA, equipment maintenance, calibration, ESD, safety, or reliability engineering.

Education Requirements

Diploma in Electrical, Electronics, Materials Engineering or a related discipline. Preferred/optional certifications and training may include Lean Six Sigma, 8D, RCA, FMEA, equipment maintenance/calibration, ESD, safety, or reliability engineering courses.

About the Company

Company: GlobalFoundries

Headquarters: Saratoga Springs, New York, USA

GlobalFoundries is a leading contract manufacturer for the global semiconductor industry, with facilities in multiple countries, including the USA. The company develops a broad portfolio of semiconductor technologies and employs around 13,000 people worldwide. GlobalFoundries focuses on enhancing competitiveness in specialized application solutions and fostering innovation in mobile communications, consumer electronics, and automotive applications.