Product Development Engineer
KLAJob Title
Product Development Engineer
Role Summary
Responsible for driving product development of semiconductor inspection systems with emphasis on performance, robustness, and manufacturability. Works on system-level integration across optics, imaging, hardware, software, and application workflows within a global products organization.
Translates system and customer needs into engineering requirements, validation plans, and development priorities while collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver production-ready products.
Experience Level
Mid-level. Typical expectations aligned with the stated minimum qualifications: Master's + ~3 years or Bachelor's + ~5 years; PhD candidates may qualify with no prior experience (see Education Requirements).
Responsibilities
Core responsibilities include:
- Drive product development activities to improve inspection sensitivity, stability, throughput, and usability.
- Lead system-level integration across optics, imaging, electronics, software, and application workflows.
- Design, execute, and interpret experiments to evaluate system behavior, performance trade-offs, and engineering risks.
- Analyze product performance, identify gaps, and develop solutions.
- Root-cause technical issues and drive corrective actions with cross-functional partners.
- Define engineering requirements, validation plans, and development priorities based on system and customer needs.
- Contribute to design reviews, technical risk assessments, and product readiness decisions.
- Develop test plans and analysis reports to support development and transfer to manufacturing.
- Collaborate with manufacturing, field, and application teams to support product transfer, issue resolution, and continuous improvement.
Requirements
Required skills and attributes (education details are in the Education Requirements section):
- Must-have: Practical experience in semiconductor inspection or capital equipment product development and system-level integration across optics, imaging, hardware, and software.
- Must-have: Ability to design experiments, analyze data, perform structured problem solving, and drive corrective actions to resolution.
- Must-have: Strong cross-functional collaboration and communication skills to work with manufacturing, field, and application teams.
- Nice-to-have: Experience with metrology/reticle inspection technologies, throughput optimization, or application workflow development.
Education Requirements
Minimum qualification combinations listed: Doctorate (PhD) with 0 years related work experience; Masters degree with ~3 years related work experience; Bachelors degree with ~5 years related work experience. (These are the explicit degree-and-experience requirements provided in the posting.)
About the Company
Company: KLA
Headquarters: Chennai, India
KLA is a global leader in diversified electronics for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company enables the production of electronic devices by inventing systems and solutions for manufacturing integrated circuits, wafers, and displays. With over 40 years of experience, KLA invests heavily in innovation and R&D to support advanced chip design and manufacturing process optimization, collaborating with top technology providers to deliver future electronic devices.
