Product Development Engineer (Mask Inspection System)

Job Title

Product Development Engineer (Mask Inspection System)

Role Summary

Lead engineer on the next-generation mask inspection platform within KLA's RAPID division. Coordinate across mechanical, electron optics, electrical, software, and systems teams to deliver requirements, designs, prototypes, and production-ready systems.

Work focuses on system architecture, integration, testing, troubleshooting, and transferring designs to manufacturing and field operations.

Experience Level

Mid-level. Experience guidance provided by KLA: PhD with 0 years, Master's with ~3 years, Bachelor's with ~5 years of related work experience.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include system-level engineering, coordination, testing, and customer support.

• Define subsystem architectures and develop requirement specifications and test plans.
• Coordinate project activities and align stakeholders across functional teams.
• Review and validate designs with mechanical, electrical, optics, and software groups.
• Integrate prototypes and perform system and assembly-level testing; create and execute test plans.
• Document and implement calibration, manufacturing, and service procedures.
• Troubleshoot system and subsystem issues; lead root-cause analysis and implement fixes.
• Support internal and external customers to optimize tool performance and processes.
• Train stakeholders and establish workflow for production and service teams.
• Lead or assist with manufacturing and field troubleshooting and escalations.
• Travel up to 25%, including international travel.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and capabilities; preferred items follow.

• Proven product development experience from requirements through first-article testing and hand-off to operations.
• Strong system-level diagnostic and troubleshooting skills across electron optics, precision mechanics, motion control, and imaging systems.
• Experience writing and executing test plans, performing logical analysis, and validating system performance.
• Ability to coordinate multi-disciplinary teams and manage schedule and budget constraints.
• Excellent verbal and written communication and attention to detail.
• Familiarity with digital signal processing and imaging system concepts (preferred as must-have if role emphasis on imaging).
• Experience with scripting for image/signal processing (Python, MATLAB) — nice-to-have.
• Strong physics, math, and computational problem-solving skills — preferred.
• Agility to work in fast-paced programs and respond to field escalations.

Education Requirements

Minimum qualifications specify degree-based experience: Doctorate (PhD) with 0 years related work experience; Master’s degree with ~3 years; Bachelor’s degree with ~5 years. Relevant fields mentioned include physics, electrical/computer engineering, optics/electron optics, imaging systems, signal processing, and related technical disciplines. The posting also references "related work experience" as part of the qualification mapping.

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.