Senior Manager, Software Engineering

Onto

$144K — $216K *
Enterprise Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's in a technical field (Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, etc.)
  • 10+ years in software engineering, with experience in complex systems
  • 5+ years leading software teams in new product development
  • Experience in semiconductor capital equipment or industrial automation
  • Strong grasp of software development lifecycle and practices
  • Experience managing global or distributed teams
  • Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills

Responsibilities

  • Lead NPD software team through the full product lifecycle from requirements to release
  • Own software execution, ensuring delivery on scope and quality
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define integrated software solutions
  • Drive architecture and code quality, addressing technical debt and cybersecurity
  • Ensure robust hardware/software integration for automation workflows
  • Establish engineering discipline around processes like CI/CD and defect management
  • Lead root-cause analysis for software and system integration issues

Benefits

  • Annual bonus opportunities tied to company and individual performance
  • Potential long-term incentives based on success
  • Focus on talent development and succession planning
Full Job Description
Job Summary & Responsibilities

Position Summary

The Senior Engineering Manager, NPD Software will lead a high-performing software engineering organization responsible for delivering new product development capabilities for semiconductor capital equipment platforms. This role is accountable for software strategy, execution, quality, architecture alignment, and cross-functional delivery across complex inspection, metrology, automation, data acquisition, image processing, system control, and customer-facing workflow software.

The ideal candidate combines deep software engineering leadership with strong semiconductor equipment domain knowledge, including tool control, factory automation, hardware/software integration, reliability, serviceability, and disciplined productization of advanced technology from concept through release.

Key Responsibilities
  • Lead the NPD software team through the full product development lifecycle, from requirements definition and architecture through implementation, verification, release, field introduction, and sustaining transition.
  • Own software execution for new product programs, ensuring predictable delivery against scope, schedule, quality, reliability, and customer commitments.
  • Partner with systems engineering, hardware engineering, optics, algorithms, applications, product management, manufacturing, service, and program management to define integrated software solutions for complex semiconductor capital equipment.
  • Drive software architecture, design reviews, code quality, technical debt reduction, cybersecurity readiness, scalability, maintainability, and long-term platform reuse.
  • Ensure robust hardware/software integration for motion control, sensors, detectors, image acquisition, data pipelines, recipe execution, diagnostics, calibration, and equipment automation workflows.
  • Establish engineering discipline around requirements traceability, defect management, configuration management, CI/CD, automated test, release readiness, and change control.
  • Lead root-cause analysis and corrective actions for complex software, system integration, and customer escalation issues during NPD and early field adoption.
  • Build, mentor, and retain a high-performing global engineering team, including technical leads, software developers, test engineers, and integration contributors.
  • Develop staffing plans, capability roadmaps, succession plans, and skill-development strategies aligned to product roadmap and business priorities.
  • Communicate program status, risks, tradeoffs, technical decisions, and recovery plans clearly to senior leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.


Qualifications

Required Qualifications
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, or a related technical discipline.
  • 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, including significant experience delivering complex, instrument-control, automation, embedded, distributed, or high-performance software systems.
  • 5+ years of engineering management experience leading software teams through new product development, release execution, and cross-functional delivery.
  • Demonstrated experience managing software for semiconductor capital equipment, industrial automation, scientific instrumentation, robotics, metrology, inspection, or similarly complex cyber-physical systems.
  • Strong understanding of software development lifecycle practices, including architecture, requirements management, design reviews, code reviews, test strategy, defect triage, release governance, and sustaining handoff.
  • Experience leading global or distributed teams and coordinating execution across multiple engineering functions, time zones, and product stakeholders.
  • Ability to translate business and product objectives into executable technical plans, measurable deliverables, and clear engineering priorities.
  • Excellent communication, decision-making, organizational, and stakeholder-management skills.

Preferred Qualifications
  • Master's degree in a relevant engineering or technical field.
  • Experience with semiconductor inspection, metrology, wafer handling, recipe management, factory automation, or SECS/GEM, equipment diagnostics.
  • Background in C++, C#, .NET, Python, Windows/Linux systems, real-time control, distributed systems, image/data processing pipelines, databases, or equipment user-interface software.
  • Experience with Agile, hybrid Agile, or phase-gate NPD execution models in a regulated or high-reliability product environment.
  • Familiarity with software quality metrics, reliability growth, cybersecurity practices, static analysis, automated regression testing, and release-readiness dashboards.
  • Experience supporting customer escalations, factory acceptance, system qualification, and field introduction of complex equipment platforms.
  • Demonstrated ability to modernize legacy software platforms while balancing near-term delivery commitments and long-term architectural health.

Leadership Expectations

This leader is expected to create a culture of technical excellence, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement. The Senior Engineering Manager will coach managers and technical leads, set clear expectations, remove organizational barriers, and ensure the team operates with urgency, transparency, and engineering rigor. The role requires a hands-on understanding of complex software systems while enabling the team to solve problems independently and scale execution across multiple NPD workstreams.

Success Measures
  • On-time delivery of NPD software milestones with clear visibility into risks, dependencies, and recovery plans.
  • Improved software quality, defect containment, regression coverage, release predictability, and field stability.
  • Effective cross-functional integration with hardware, systems, algorithms, applications, manufacturing, service, and product teams.
  • Reduced technical debt and increased platform reuse across software capabilities.
  • Strong team engagement, talent development, succession readiness, and retention of critical software expertise.
  • Clear executive communication on execution status, technical tradeoffs, resource needs, and business impact.


Compensation & Growth
• Base Salary Range:
$144,000.00 - $216,000.00, offered in good faith and based on experience, location, and qualifications.

  • Additional Rewards: Annual bonus opportunities and potential long-term incentives tied to both company and individual success.

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at Onto

More Enterprise Technology Jobs

Find similar Senior Manager, Software Engineering jobs: