Senior Equipment Integration Architect – SmartFab 

Context – About imec

Imec is a world leader in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, operating one of the most advanced semiconductor R&D cleanrooms. Through SmartFab, imec is accelerating the digitalization and automation of cleanroom operations.
To strengthen this program, we are looking for a Senior Equipment Integration Architect who combines architectural expertise with hands‑on technical credibility.

Your role

As Senior Equipment Integration Architect, you define and evolve the integration architecture connecting semiconductor equipment, MES, automation systems, and imec’s ICT platforms. You ensure architectural consistency, reliability, and scalability across a heterogeneous tool landscape, and you remain close enough to the technology to intervene when complexity demands it.

What you will do

Architectural ownership

• Define the target architecture for equipment integration within SmartFab.
• Standardize integration patterns (SECS/GEM, Message bus, API‑based and event‑driven flows).
• Govern lifecycle processes for tool onboarding and integration into MES and automation platforms.
• Define architectural guardrails for scalability, reliability, observability, and security.
• Contribute to long-term building blocks in tool automation, data acquisition, traceability, and analytics enablement.
• Design and implement monitoring mechanisms to assess and track the “health” of the equipment‑integration ecosystem, ensuring early detection of failures, degradations, or data‑quality issues.

Technical leadership & deep problem solving

• Analyze and resolve complex integration failures across IT/OT layers.
• Debug complex communication flows and tool state inconsistencies.
• Diagnose transaction or traceability anomalies.
• Drive rigorous end‑to‑end testing of equipment integrations—including scenario coverage, exception paths, degraded modes, and vendor‑specific edge cases—to guarantee stable and reliable operation in a heterogeneous tool landscape.
• Contribute to the investigation of performance bottlenecks across equipment interfaces, middleware, databases, and infrastructure.
• Collaborate directly with cleanroom equipment vendors when systemic issues occur.
• Validate that implementations follow agreed architectural principles.

Cross-domain collaboration

• Bridge Fab operations, R&D stakeholders, and ICT platform teams.
• Align SmartFab integration capabilities with evolving research needs.
• Support analysts, integration engineers, and external partners in ensuring consistent solution design.
• Maintain pragmatic, accessible architectural documentation.

What we do for you

We offer you the opportunity to join one of the world’s premier research centers in nanotechnology at its headquarters in Leuven, Belgium. With your talent, passion and expertise, you’ll become part of a team that makes the impossible possible. Together, we shape the technology that will determine the society of tomorrow.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and proud of our open, multicultural, and informal working environment with ample possibilities to take initiative and show responsibility. We commit to supporting and guiding you in this process; not only with words but also with tangible actions. Through imec.academy, 'our corporate university', we actively invest in your development to further your technical and personal growth. 

We are aware that your valuable contribution makes imec a top player in its field. Your energy and commitment are therefore appreciated by means of a market appropriate salary with many fringe benefits. 

Who you are

Required

• 8+ years of experience in semiconductor manufacturing systems or complex industrial integration.
• Proven expertise in equipment integration and MES environments.
• Strong hands‑on experience with SECS/GEM, Message bus, and integration middleware.
• Solid understanding of tool states, recipe management, lot control, traceability, and event‑driven operational flows.
• Experience troubleshooting production‑critical integration issues.

Strongly valued

• Experience in semiconductor fabs or advanced R&D cleanrooms.
• Knowledge of database performance, transaction analysis, and distributed systems.
• Experience with CI/CD, automated testing, and DevOps practices in an industrial context.
• Understanding of IT/OT security and reliability constraints.
• Experience shaping architecture roadmaps and driving cross‑team alignment.

Why this role matters

High‑quality equipment integration is essential for research throughput, equipment utilization, operational efficiency, and overall SmartFab capability. Your architectural choices will shape the foundation for automation and digitalization in one of the most advanced R&D fabs worldwide.

What success looks like (12–18 months)

• Standardized, reusable integration patterns are broadly adopted.
• Tool onboarding time and variability are significantly reduced.
• Complex integration issues are resolved in a structural, data‑driven way.
• SmartFab architecture scales in line with increased automation and digitalization.
• R&D and ICT roadmaps remain structurally aligned.

IMEC and its affiliates will not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from a candidate. IMEC will consider unsolicited referrals and/or resumes submitted by vendors such as search firms, staffing agencies, professional recruiters, fee-based referral services and recruiting agencies (hereafter “Agency”) to have been referred by the Agency free of charge. IMEC will not pay a fee to any Agency that does not have a prior written agreement with IMEC, validated by its HR department, in place regarding a specific job opening and allowing to submit resumes.