Lead Research Engineer, Smart Operation and Planning (FAB), IME

Key Responsibilities

KPI Governance & Performance Management

• Define, establish, implement, and own a Fab KPI framework: OTD, cycle time (CT), WIP, inline pace / throughput, move rate, schedule adherence, equipment utilization, DPML, hold lot aging, rework/scrap, WIP turns, and forecast accuracy.
• Design and own live dashboards with tiered visual management (daily/weekly/etc) in order to set targets, guardrails, and escalation paths (e.g., CT breach, bottleneck loading, WIP caps).
• Establish KPI definitions, data lineage, and governance to ensure single source of truth run regular ops reviews with variance/root-cause analytics and action closure tracking.

Tool Capacity Planning

• Build capacity models by workcenter/tool family (bottleneck and nonbottleneck) with tool states, product mix, and modelled downtime.
• Lead medium- and long-range capacity planning, including whatif scenarios (new products / developments, recipe changes, capex adds, PM extensions).
• Optimize dispatching policies for WIP flows (e.g., FIFO, drumbufferrope) to stabilize bottlenecks and reduce CT variability.
• Partner with Equipment team for capability roadmaps (de-bottlenecking, redundancy, chamber matching, clone strategy).

Layout Planning & Material Flow Optimisation

• Lead fab/layout planning - bay/aisle constraints, tool placement, line balancing, utilities and material flow to minimize travel, WIP touches, and crosstraffic.
• Maintain uptodate floor maps and capacity heatmaps and define staging strategies (kitting, Kanban, supermarkets) to derisk starvation/overfeeding at bottlenecks.

Planning, Scheduling & Smart Factory Enablement

• Implement MES integration for lot movement policies, WIP caps (Littles Law), dispatch lists, and shopfloor visibility.
• Implement and drive digital twin / simulation for scenario planning: mix shifts, tool downs, and new line introductions.

People Leadership & Stakeholder Management

• Lead and develop the team by setting clear goals and encouraging upskills in analytics, simulation, and scheduling.
• Facilitate alignment with respective stakeholders (Ops, Engineering, Equipment, S&I, Procurement/Materials, etc).
• Drive change management for new KPIs, planning rules, and layout changes with structured stakeholder engagement.

Qualifications

• Degree in Industrial/Manufacturing/Systems/Mechanical/Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 510+ years in semiconductor fab planning/Ops/scheduling.
• Strong command of operations analytics and queueing theory.
• Handson experience with MES/APS and simulation tools.
• Data fluency: SQL, Excel/Power Query, Power BI/Tableau preferred for modeling.
• Excellent written and verbal communication proven crossfunctional leadership in fastpaced environments.