Senior Equipment Integration Architect - SmartFab

You will be the architectural owner of equipment integration within imec’s MES and SmartFab landscape. This domain sits at the intersection of systems, automation, and operations, connecting a broad and evolving ecosystem of platforms. It is inherently complex: multiple interfaces, heterogeneous environments, production-critical constraints, and continuous change driven by both operations and R&D. Your role is to bring structure, coherence, and long-term sustainability to this landscape-ensuring that integrations remain reliable today, while enabling controlled evolution for the future. What you will do Architectural ownership

• Own and evolve the end-to-end architecture of equipment integration
• Define and enforce integration patterns (API-driven, message-based, event-driven)
• Establish architectural guardrails for scalability, reliability, observability, and security
• Govern lifecycle of integrations (onboarding, upgrades, decommissioning)
• Ensure consistency and avoid fragmentation
• Provide architectural oversight across teams and partners

Technical leadership & hands-on problem solving

• Act as technical reference for complex integration challenges
• Analyze and resolve issues across system layers
• Debug communication flows and integration behavior
• Drive structured validation approaches including edge cases
• Investigate performance and stability issues
• Ensure implementations follow architecture

Cross-domain collaboration

• Bridge operations, R&D, and ICT teams
• Align integration capabilities with evolving needs
• Support engineers and partners
• Maintain clear 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 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.

• Experience in complex integration environments
• Architectural mindset with hands-on approach
• Strong problem-solving skills
• Comfortable in production-critical systems

What you can expect

• Ownership of a critical domain
• High-impact environment
• Cross-domain collaboration
• Chance to turn complexity into structure

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.