Product Development Engineer

KLA is a global leader in diversified electronics for the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem. Virtually every electronic device in the world is produced using our technologies. No laptop, smartphone, wearable device, voice-controlled gadget, flexible screen, VR device or smart car would have made it into your hands without us. KLA invents systems and solutions for the manufacturing of wafers and reticles, integrated circuits, packaging, printed circuit boards and flat panel displays. The innovative ideas and devices that are advancing humanity all begin with inspiration, research and development. KLA focuses more than average on innovation and we invest 15% of sales back into R&D. Our expert teams of physicists, engineers, data scientists and problem-solvers work together with the world’s leading technology providers to accelerate the delivery of tomorrow’s electronic devices. Life here is exciting and our teams thrive on tackling really hard problems. There is never a dull moment with us.

With over 40 years of semiconductor process control experience, chipmakers around the globe rely on KLA to ensure that their fabs ramp next-generation devices to volume production quickly and cost-effectively. Enabling the movement towards advanced chip design, KLA's Global Products Group (GPG), which is responsible for creating all of KLA’s metrology and inspection products, is looking for the best and the brightest research scientist, software engineers, application development engineers, and senior product technology process engineers. The Film and Scatterometry Technology (FaST) Division provides industry leading metrology solutions for worldwide semiconductor IC manufacturers. The FaST Division portfolio of metrology products includes hardware and software solutions for optical film thickness, optical critical dimension (CD), composition, and resistivity measurement systems. These products are essential for the IC manufacturers as they provide critical metrology capabilities for the development and implementation of their advanced IC processes. The FaST division is committed to support our customers to achieve performance entitlement of our solution and we effectively partner with our customers from their early research and development phase to the high volume in-line manufacturing implementation specific for their process needs. The division consists of a global team located in US, Israel, China, and India.

Job Description/Preferred Qualifications

The Product Development Engineer plays a central role across all phases of the product lifecycle, leading multi-functional teams for developing, improving, and supporting next-generation Scatterometry Critical Dimension (SCD) metrology products while driving new product rollouts as well as supporting current products. The candidate will be responsible for product improvement projects, multi-functional teams’ communication, and field support specific to a few key customers. This role requires strong leadership attributes to lead teams on diagnosing complex system issues, drive corrective actions effectively to meet customer timeline, and collaborate with cross-disciplinary division and field experts (optics, electronics, mechanics, software, and algorithms) until issue resolved. Effective customer communication to align on requirements, system performance demonstration and presentation, and continuous development and issue solution activities to improve product performance and stability will be vital for the candidate to achieve KLA’s advanced metrology solutions in both R&D and high-volume manufacturing environments.

Additional details regarding responsibilities:

• Own customer-facing new product engagements and respond to customer requirements
• Drive corrective action plan development and execution, while collaborating closely with R&D teams to enhance product design
• Perform initial system issue diagnosis, analyze system data, identify root causes, and develop solutions for complex technical problems
• Conduct detailed analysis and trade-off evaluations across multiple solution options, define clear plans of action (POA), and effectively communicate execution strategies to both internal teams and customers
• Drive product or feature introduction, which includes updating procedures of system alignment, calibration and troubleshooting diagnostics for existing and new products, training of operations and field personnel, and solving technical issues that may impact production introduction.
• Drive team to resolve system issues by collaborating with cross-functional specialists in optics, electronics, mechanics, software, and algorithms to deliver integrated solutions
• Support product development, manufacturing transition, and resolution of advanced customer issues, including traveling to headquarter or customer sites when required
• Travel domestic or international up to 40% for training and customer support when needed.

Qualifications

• Master or PhD degree in Optics, Physics, Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Material Science, or related technical field.
• Solid foundation in optical system, opto-mechanics, physics, with data processing and strong analytical and system‑level problem‑solving skills.
• Hands-on experience constructing and aligning opto-mechanical system is highly desirable.
• Experience in diagnosing and driving solutions to complex problems across whole systems by applying appropriate problem-solving techniques.
• Ability to communicate effectively to all levels of the division, customers, and across cultures.
• Experience in the semiconductor capital equipment or manufacturing industry.
• Proficient communication skills in Chinese and English.

Minimum Qualifications

Doctorate (Academic) Degree and 0 years related work experience; Master's Level Degree and related work experience of 3 years; Bachelor's Level Degree and related work experience of 5 years

We offer a competitive, family friendly total rewards package. We design our programs to reflect our commitment to an inclusive environment, while ensuring we provide benefits that meet the diverse needs of our employees.

KLA is proud to be an equal opportunity employer

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