KLA Tencor

Software Engineering Manager-AI/ML

KLA Tencor$114K — $194K *
Enterprise Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience
  • 10+ years in software engineering, ML/AI engineering, or applied data roles
  • 4+ years of experience managing technical teams
  • Strong understanding of AI/ML systems and their deployment
  • Hands-on experience with modern engineering practices (APIs, CI/CD, testing)
  • Effective communication skills with technical and non-technical stakeholders

Responsibilities

  • Manage and grow a team of AI engineers and ML engineers
  • Set clear goals and conduct regular performance reviews
  • Coach team members on technical excellence and responsible AI practices
  • Own delivery of AI and GenAI initiatives from concept through production
  • Guide teams in building production-grade AI systems
  • Balance experimentation with operational rigor to ensure scalability and security
  • Communicate status, risks, and outcomes to leadership and stakeholders

Benefits

  • Medical, dental, vision, life, and other voluntary benefits
  • 401(K) with company matching
  • Employee stock purchase program (ESPP)
  • Tuition reimbursement and student debt assistance
  • Wellness benefits, including employee assistance program (EAP)
  • Paid time off and holidays
  • Development and career growth opportunities
Full Job Description

Job Description/Preferred Qualifications

The AI Manager leads a team of engineers delivering AI enabled products and platforms that drive measurable business outcomes. This role combines people leadership, technical oversight, and delivery accountability, ensuring AI solutions are built responsibly, operate reliably in production, and align with enterprise priorities. The manager partners closely with product, data, platform, security, and business stakeholders to translate opportunities into scalable AI solutions.

Key Responsibilities

  • Manage and grow a team of AI engineers, ML engineers, and/or software engineers working on AI initiatives.

  • Set clear goals, expectations, and success metrics; conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and career development planning.

  • Coach team members on technical excellence, delivery discipline, and responsible AI practices.

  • Own delivery of AI and GenAI initiatives from concept through production, ensuring scope, timelines, and quality standards are met.

  • Guide teams in building productiongrade AI systems, including data pipelines, model training, LLM applications, deployment, and monitoring.

  • Balance experimentation with operational rigorensuring solutions are scalable, secure, and supportable.

  • Provide architectural and design guidance for:

    • ML pipelines and model lifecycle management

    • LLM applications (e.g., RAG, agents, copilots, tool/function calling)

    • Integration of AI services into enterprise applications

  • Review designs and key technical decisions; ensure alignment with platform standards and best practices.

  • Partner with data, cloud, and platform teams to ensure AI solutions align with enterprise architecture.

  • Collaborate with security, legal, and governance teams to ensure responsible AI, privacy, and compliance requirements are met.

  • Communicate status, risks, and outcomes clearly to leadership and stakeholders.

  • Ensure AI systems meet standards for reliability, monitoring, cost management, and incident response.

  • Establish guardrails for responsible AI: data privacy, model risk, transparency, bias awareness, and auditability.

  • Drive continuous improvement through retrospectives, metrics, and adoption of best practices.

Preferred / Nice to Have
  • Experience managing teams building LLMbased applications or GenAI platforms.

  • Familiarity with cloud platforms (e.g., Azure, AWS, or GCP) and modern data stacks.

  • Exposure to MLOps practices, model monitoring, and AI governance frameworks.

  • Experience delivering AI solutions in enterprise domains such as manufacturing, supply chain, finance, or customer operations.

Core Competencies

  • People Leadership: coaching, feedback, performance management, hiring

  • AI Delivery: ML lifecycle, LLM applications, production readiness

  • Technical Judgment: architecture reviews, tradeoff decisions

  • Execution: roadmap planning, dependency management, risk mitigation

  • Collaboration: product partnership, stakeholder communication

  • Responsible AI: security, privacy, governance awareness

Minimum Qualifications

  • Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).

  • 10+ years of experience in software engineering, ML/AI engineering, or applied data roles.

  • 4+ years of people management experience leading technical teams.

  • Strong understanding of AI/ML systems and how they are built, deployed, and operated in production.

  • Handson background with modern engineering practices (APIs, CI/CD, testing, observability).

  • Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and nontechnical stakeholders.

Base Pay Range: $114,100.00 - $194,000.00 Annually

Primary Location: USA-MI-Ann Arbor-KLA

KLAs total rewards package for employees may also include participation in performance incentive programs and eligibility for additional benefits including but not limited to: medical, dental, vision, life, and other voluntary benefits, 401(K) including company matching, employee stock purchase program (ESPP), student debt assistance, tuition reimbursement program, development and career growth opportunities and programs, financial planning benefits, wellness benefits including an employee assistance program (EAP), paid time off and paid company holidays, and family care and bonding leave.

Interns are eligible for some of the benefits listed. Our pay ranges are determined by role, level, and location. The range displayed reflects the pay for this position in the primary location identified in this posting. Actual pay depends on several factors, including state minimum pay wage rates, location, job-related skills, experience, and relevant education level or training. We are committed to complying with all applicable federal and state minimum wage requirements where applicable. If applicable, your recruiter can share more about the specific pay range for your preferred location during the hiring process.

About KLA Tencor

KLA Corporation is a global capital equipment company that provides process control solutions for semiconductor and related industries. The Company's products are also used in a number of other high technology industries, including the packaging, light emitting diode (LED), power device and compound semiconductor markets. Its products and services are used by bare wafer, integrated circuit (IC), lithography reticle (reticle or mask) and disk manufacturers around the world. The Company's inspection and metrology products and related offerings are categorized in various groups, including Chip Manufacturing, Wafer Manufacturing, Reticle Manufacturing, LED, Power Device and Compound Semiconductor Manufacturing, Data Storage Media/Head Manufacturing, Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) Manufacturing, and General Purpose/Lab Applications.
Learn more about KLA Tencor
Size
11,300 employees
Market Cap
$52 billion
Industry
Net Income
$1.3 billion
Founded
1997
5 Year Trend
+21.5%
Revenue
$6 billion
NASDAQ

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