Focuses on providing technical support and expertise to the sales team and customers during the sales process. Expertise provided to parties may include answering questions about a single product or a product line, providing in-depth demonstration of the products, assisting customer with maximizing the benefits from the products they bought, and diagnosing, troubleshooting, repairing, and debugging complex systems.
Job Summary
The Technical Customer Engineer (TCE) serves as the primary technical interface between Nordson AMI and semiconductor manufacturing customers for factory automation and equipment communication integration. This role ensures accurate capture, translation, and execution of SECS/GEM, SEMI standards, SMEMA protocol, and automation-related customer requirements.
The TCE will act as the first line of defense for customer requests involving host communication changes, MES integration, automation interfaces, parts handlers, robotics, and related equipment communication systems. This role eliminates technical misinterpretation by directly engaging with customer automation and CIM teams, ensuring requirements are clearly documented and efficiently implemented.
Essential Job Duties and Responsibilities
Customer Interface & Technical Requirement Capture
• Serve as primary technical contact for factory automation and communication topics.
• Lead direct discussions with customer CIM, MES, and automation engineers.
• Translate customer requirements into detailed internal engineering specifications.
• Review and clarify change requests related to host communication and automation.
SECS/GEM & SEMI Standards Support
• Support implementation and troubleshooting of:
o SECS-II messaging
o GEM (SEMI E30)
o HSMS (SEMI E37)
o SMEMA interface protocol
• Assist with compliance to SEMI standards including E87, E90, and E94 (as applicable).
• Review and validate message maps, variable tables, alarm structures, and remote commands.
• Support FAT and SAT activities related to host communication.
Automation & Equipment Integration
• Support integration of:
o Wafer handlers
o Panel handlers
o Robotics systems
o EFEM interfaces
• Validate SMEMA connections and equipment-to-equipment handshaking.
• Support factory communication modifications including:
o Host variable additions
o Alarm updates
o Recipe and job management integration
o Remote command implementations
Cross-Functional Coordination
• Work closely with U.S.-based software and controls engineering teams.
• Develop requirement documents and gap analyses.
• Participate in troubleshooting communication-related field issues.
• Provide structured documentation for internal development teams.
Continuous Improvement
• Develop standardized templates for SECS/GEM requirement capture.
• Identify recurring automation needs and recommend product roadmap improvements.
• Reduce engineering rework by improving upfront requirement accuracy.
Education and Experience Requirements
• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, Computer Engineering, Automation, or related technical field.
• 5 to 10 years of experience in automated semiconductor fabrication equipment.
• Strong working knowledge of:
o SECS-II
o GEM (SEMI E30)
o HSMS (SEMI E37)
o SMEMA protocol
• Experience working in semiconductor fab or OSAT high-volume manufacturing environments.
• Experience interfacing directly with customer CIM or automation teams.
• Fluent in Mandarin and English.
• Must hold a valid U.S. visa for travel and training.
Preferred Skills and Abilities
- Experience with SEMI E40 (Processing Management), E84 (Carrier Handoff), E87 (Carrier Management), E90 (Substrate Tracking), and E94 (Control Job Management).
- Assist with compliance to SEMI standards including E87, E90, and E94 (as applicable).
- Familiarity with MES systems and factory host integration.
- Experience with wafer or panel-level automation.
- Understanding of robotics and equipment integration architecture.
- Strong technical documentation and communication skills.
- Ability to translate ambiguous requests into structured engineering requirements.
- Results-driven and capable of working independently in customer-facing environments.
Working Conditions and Physical Demands
• Office and customer fab environment.
• May require standing during tool integration and FAT/SAT support.
• Travel within Asia and periodic travel to U.S.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, Computer Engineering, Automation, or a related technical field
- 5 to 10 years of experience in automated semiconductor fabrication equipment
- Strong working knowledge of SECS-II, GEM, HSMS, and SMEMA protocol
- Experience working in semiconductor fab or OSAT high-volume manufacturing environments
- Experience interfacing directly with customer CIM or automation teams
- Fluent in Mandarin and English
- Must hold a valid U.S. visa for travel and training
What We Do
Nordson is a team of 7,300 global employees thriving in an environment where they are supported and encouraged to be their best. Working side by side, we build meaningful connections with each other and our customers. Together, we deliver products that are solutions, and they’re likely touching your life every day. Have you ever changed a diaper? Opened a box of cereal? Used a smart phone or driven a car? Then we’ve already met. At Nordson, we take pride in being an outstanding corporate citizen and strongly believe in sharing our success with the communities where our employees live and work. Whether you’re working in one of our labs, offices or manufacturing facilities, your efforts will enable our customers to succeed and our company to continuously improve and grow. We engineer, manufacture and market differentiated products and systems used for precision dispensing and processing in a variety of end markets, from packaging to transportation and medical to electronics. Founded in 1954, we operate under the values of integrity, respect for people, customer passion, energy and excellence. Nordson is headquartered in the United States in Westlake, Ohio, and has direct operations in more than 30 countries to support our products and systems with application expertise and a direct global sales and service organization
