SMT & Production Equipment Technician

About the team

Cellular Tracking Technologies builds wildlife tracking hardware in low volumes and high mix — sometimes a run of twelve tags, sometimes twelve hundred, often several different products in the same week. That puts a lot of weight on the person running our automated equipment.

Job Description: SMT & Production Equipment Technician

Department: Manufacturing
Reports to: Manufacturing Manager
Location: Rio Grande, NJ (on-site)
Status: Full-time, hourly

Alternate titles considered: Manufacturing Equipment Technician · Production Equipment Operator · Automated Manufacturing Technician · Process Equipment Technician

Position Summary

Cellular Tracking Technologies builds wildlife tracking hardware in low volumes and high mix — sometimes a run of twelve tags, sometimes twelve hundred, often several different products in the same week. That puts a lot of weight on the person running our automated equipment.

The SMT & Production Equipment Technician owns the machines: our surface-mount line (stencil printer, pick-and-place, reflow), our resin and filament 3D printers, our dicing saw, and the supporting equipment on the production floor. You'll set them up, program them, run them, inspect what comes off them, and keep them running.

You do not need to arrive knowing SMT. We will train the right person. What we need is someone with real mechanical aptitude, patience for precision work, and the discipline to follow a setup sheet exactly — and then the curiosity to understand why the setup is what it is. Our current equipment operators started without SMT backgrounds.

At CTT teams are small and nimble, and team members are often called upon to assist outside their primary duties. As we grow we're pushing toward more cross-training and resisting the siloing that happens during rapid growth.

Key Responsibilities

SMT Line Operation

• Set up and run the full SMT process: solder paste stencil printing, pick-and-place, and reflow
• Kit, stage, and load component feeders and reels; verify every feeder position against the Bill of Materials before the run starts
• Perform first-article inspection at the start of each run and confirm placement, orientation, and polarity before releasing to volume
• Manage changeovers between products efficiently and without cross-contamination of parts
• Handle solder paste correctly: cold storage, controlled warm-up, stencil life, paste life, and disposal

Machine Programming & Process Understanding

• Build and modify machine programs from centroid / pick-and-place files, Gerber data, and assembly drawings
• Understand how each parameter and process step influences the finished assembly — placement pressure, paste volume, reflow profile, conveyor speed
• Assist with reflow profile development and validation for new boards
• Recognize when a process is drifting and correct it rather than running scrap

Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing)

• Operate resin (MSLA/SLA) and filament (FDM) printers producing enclosures, jigs, fixtures, and molds
• Slice and orient parts, choose supports, and select materials appropriate to the application
• Run post-processing: wash and cure cycles, support removal, sifting, and bead blasting
• Inspect prints for dimensional accuracy, layer defects, and surface finish; reject and re-run when quality is off
• Perform routine printer maintenance — FEP/screen replacement, bed leveling, nozzle service, resin vat management, calibration

Dicing & Singulation

• Operate the dicing saw for board and substrate singulation
• Perform blade changes, alignment, and feed/depth setup
• Inspect cut quality for chipping, burring, and dimensional accuracy

Inspection & Quality

• Perform visual inspection of populated PCBs under magnification against IPC-A-610 acceptability criteria
• Identify and correctly name solder defects: insufficient and excess solder, bridging, tombstoning, cold joints, voiding, misalignment, billboarding
• Document and disposition defects; track defect trends and raise them rather than absorbing them
• Check your own work — QA starts with you

Rework

• Perform hot-air rework, SMD component removal and replacement, and hand soldering of fine-pitch parts, connectors, and antennas
• Troubleshoot assemblies with a digital multimeter and escalate what you can't resolve

Equipment Maintenance & Consumables

• Execute preventive maintenance schedules; keep nozzles, feeders, and squeegees clean and calibrated
• Maintain calibration and maintenance logs
• Track consumable inventory (paste, stencils, resin, filament, blades, nozzles) and flag reorder points before they bite

Documentation & Systems

• Maintain machine setup sheets, work instructions, and run records
• Log production runs, inventory movements, and defective material in Airtable and internal tools (MegaMonitor, TrackerIO, NextGen Tools)
• Read schematics and BOMs well enough to help verify parts for upcoming production runs
• Propose improvements to procedures where you see quality or efficiency gains

Team

• Work toward department goals for safety, quality, and efficiency
• Assist with training other technicians as your skills develop
• Follow all safety rules and ESD handling procedures
• Cross-train across the diverse spectrum of CTT manufacturing capabilities and pitch in when needed

Qualifications

Required

• High school diploma or GED
• Strong mechanical aptitude; comfortable working with precision equipment, hand tools, and power tools
• Ability to read and follow work instructions, schematics, and Bills of Materials
• Steady hands and good near vision (correctable); comfortable doing fine detail work under magnification for extended periods
• Basic computer proficiency and a genuine willingness to learn machine software and internal systems
• Meticulous record-keeping habits — if it isn't documented, it didn't happen
• Reliable attendance and the judgment to stop a run rather than push bad product forward

Preferred

• Hands-on SMT experience: stencil printing, pick-and-place, reflow (Juki, Yamaha, Hanwha/Samsung, Neoden, Mycronic, or similar)
• IPC-A-610 and/or J-STD-001 training or certification
• Experience with resin and/or FDM 3D printing and slicing software
• Dicing saw, laser depaneling, or CNC machining experience
• Familiarity with ESD control practices (ANSI/ESD S20.20)
• Experience with AOI, X-ray inspection, or reflow profiling
• Interest in wildlife, conservation, or field research

Performance Metrics

• First-pass yield on SMT production runs
• Line uptime and changeover time
• Scrap and rework rate
• On-time completion of scheduled production runs
• Accuracy and completeness of setup sheets and run documentation
• Preventive maintenance completed on schedule

Working Conditions

On-site at our Rio Grande, NJ facility. Manufacturing floor environment with extended periods of standing and of seated bench work. Regular use of magnification. Exposure — with provided PPE — to solder paste and flux, isopropyl alcohol, adhesives, and photopolymer resins. Occasional lifting up to 50 lbs. Standard weekday schedule with occasional flexibility needed around production deadlines and shipping crunches.

About CTT

Cellular Tracking Technologies (CTT) is a global leader in wildlife telemetry and IoT solutions, headquartered in Cape May County, NJ. CTT was founded in 2007 by a team of scientists and engineers who wanted to vastly improve the state of wildlife telemetry.

CTT brings the newest innovations and highest levels of service to the wildlife research market and has now operated in over 50 countries. We are a nimble company that constantly strives to improve our products to support conservation research around the globe.

From the beginning, CTT has had a strong commitment to our local community, conservation, and sustainability, and currently works with several local nonprofits and government organizations. Our staff has donated their time to help oversee a variety of local projects, sit on local boards, and volunteer on many community projects.

The hardware you build here goes onto eagles, bats, butterflies, and shorebirds on six continents. It's a rare manufacturing job where you can see exactly what your work is for.

Benefits

• 401(k)
• Health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Paid time off
• Paid training and certification (IPC / J-STD-001)

Diversity and Inclusion Statement

CTT values a diverse and inclusive work environment and welcomes candidates from all backgrounds.

Date Reviewed: August 31, 2026

1293 Hornet Road, Suite #1, Rio Grande, NJ 08242 USA · (609) 889-0305 · www.celltracktech.com