Job Description
About VAT Group
At VAT, we change the world with vacuum solutions. As the world’s leading supplier of high-performance vacuum valves, we have been driving innovation for more than 60 years. With over 3,200 employees worldwide, we operate from our headquarters in Haag, Switzerland, with manufacturing sites in Switzerland, Malaysia and Romania, as well as sales and service hubs around the world. We are guided by our passions integrity, teamwork, customer centricity, and innovation – always working together as #oneVAT.
Joining us means becoming part of a passionate, international team where your voice is heard, your ideas matter, and your career growth is supported.
Field Application Engineer - SEMI
- The Field Application Engineer (FAE) represents the technical interface to the customer He is the technical specialist on the customer processes, application and tools.
- The FAE is identifying challenges and opportunities at the customer site or a certain market and recognizes new business opportunities for VAT as well as upcoming challenges at the OEM before reaching “official” reporting channels.
- FAE is guiding the customer in finding better solutions for their products.
- FAE acts strongly on the technical level and on further trends at the customer processes and identifies future product requirements.
ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Responsible for specification for new product developments and existing product improvements.
- Responsible for local customer support during New Product Introduction (NPI).
- Responsible for execution and support of experiments e.g. test valves at customer site
- Provide accurate and precise answers to application related technical customer requests.
- Reliable technical contributor in projects for both headquarters and customer. Voice of headquarters project team in customer projects. Voice of customer in product development projects.
- Takes technical decisions together with customer based on general BU guidelines. Detail consultation with HQ not in every case required.
- Identify OEM technical roadmaps and communicate to Product Managers.
- Support Product Managers in defining actual and future product requirements in order to protect and increase the share of wallet for VAT Group worldwide.
- Research on a certain market. Be clear about its roadmap or generation upgrading. Identify our products’ opportunities and challenge from it.
- Frequently communicate with HQ Engineering Team for alignment on latest product roadmap.
- Support complex technical escalations at customers in cooperation with responsible Product Manager.
- Support the sales entities of VAT Group in customer acquisition and negotiations, and proactively drive the product specification process.
- Contributes to the VAT application engineering network
- Carefully monitor competitor landscape, run competition analysis and work out VAT’s competitive advantage
WORK ENVIRONMENT:
- Office
- Travel
- Customer Site
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR
- Specification Wins: Number of Spec. Win projects, including NPI, Share gain, share defend, New Applications.
- Local Sales organization Revenue
- Group EBITDA
SKILL REQUIREMENTS:
- Technical skills in the field of the customer processes, valve applications or platforms.
- Awareness of on-time delivery, quality, and meeting commitments.
- Fluent in English (verbal and written) for communication with the headquarters.
- Ability to work in matrix organization.
- Ability to troubleshoot and solve complex engineering and technical product issues using sound judgment
- Ability to work independently, and especially comfortable with customers
- Ability to manage multiple projects at one time
- Strong team player
- Computer literacy with confidence in using Windows programs - Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
- Ability to read mechanical drawings.
EXPERIENCE:
Essential:
- Solid experience in vacuum engineering, preferably in the IC process or facility in OEM company or Fab.
- Mechanical hands on experience at tools in the fab or labatory.
Desirable:
- Knowledge of VAT valve product range is advantageous.
- Extensive exposure to developing products on system or sub-system level preferable in SEMI industry. Well demonstrated creativity for system or sub-system development.
Our commitment to inclusion, fairness and equal opportunities
We believe in meaningful careers, continuous learning, and equal opportunities for everyone to drive our innovation and success. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are dedicated to fostering an inclusive and respectful workplace. If you have concerns, our compliance channel is available at our website. All reports are handled with strict confidentiality and in accordance with our Code of Conduct
