KLA Tencor

System Design Engineer

KLA Tencor$136K — $231K *
Enterprise Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, Material Engineering, Physics, or Systems Engineering; or related work experience (Master's: 3 years; Bachelor's: 5 years)
  • 5-10 years of experience in electrical hardware development and productization
  • Proven track record with New Product Introduction (NPI), pilot builds, and manufacturing ramp-up
  • Strong hands-on experience with lab equipment such as oscilloscopes and analyzers
  • Experience in mixed-signal systems, power distribution, or system-level electrical design
  • Strong communication and problem-solving skills across global teams

Responsibilities

  • Define and oversee system architecture and interface definitions
  • Lead the transition of products from development to manufacturing
  • Drive Design for Manufacturability (DFM), Assembly (DFA) and other DFx strategies
  • Establish system-level specifications and performance trade-offs
  • Lead cross-functional design reviews among various engineering domains
  • Optimize subsystem designs for performance, yield, and cost
  • Develop comprehensive integration and testing plans for product releases

Benefits

  • Medical, dental, and vision coverage
  • 401(K) with company matching
  • Employee stock purchase program (ESPP)
  • Tuition reimbursement and student debt assistance
  • Wellness benefits including an employee assistance program (EAP)
  • Generous paid time off and paid company holidays
Full Job Description
Group/Division
The SensArray division is the world leading provider of in situ processing measurement and control solutions for the semiconductor industry. The company provides measurement and control solutions to both semiconductor fabs and mask shops to ensure that yields are consistently high thus enabling cost-effective manufacturing SensArray business unit is dedicate to support customer R&D phase as well as HVM with in-situ thermal process control. SensArray business unit enable APC (Automated Process Control) to improve process optimization and yield improvement.

Job Description/Preferred Qualifications
Primary Responsibilities
  • Define and own system architecture, requirements, and interface definitions across subsystems
  • Lead product transition from development to manufacturing
  • Drive DFM / DFA / DFx (Design for Manufacturability, Assembly, Test, Cost)
  • Establish and maintain system-level specifications, error budgets, and performance trade-offs
  • Lead cross-functional design reviews and ensure alignment across electrical, mechanical, firmware, and software domains
  • Drive Design for Excellence (DFx), including manufacturability, assembly, testability, cost, reliability, and serviceability
  • Influence subsystem designs to optimize performance, yield, quality, and cost of ownership
  • Identify technical risks and develop mitigation strategies throughout the product lifecycle
  • Lead system-level integration, validation, and verification planning and execution
  • Resolve system-level issues across engineering, manufacturing, and field environments
  • Collaborate with product marketing and engineering leadership to align system requirements with customer and roadmap needs
  • Provide technical leadership for next-generation technologies (N+1, N+2 roadmap planning)
  • Ensure documentation readiness: BOMs, routings, work instructions


New Product Introduction (NPI) Ownership
  • Own electrical and system-level aspects of NPI from prototype through production release
  • Lead product transition from development to manufacturing, ensuring build readiness (processes, tools, fixtures, test coverage)
  • Coordinate prototype, pilot, qualification builds, and early production ramp
  • Drive electrical bring-up, debug, system integration, and issue resolution
  • Define manufacturing test strategies, coverage, and validation approaches
  • Identify and mitigate risks related to yield, reliability, and cycle time
  • Partner with manufacturing engineering to drive yield improvement and ramp readiness
  • Support supplier / contract manufacturer engagement and sourcing decisions
  • Ensure full documentation readiness (BOMs, routings, work instructions, test procedures)
  • Drive corrective actions and incorporate lessons learned into future programs
  • Support customer demos, first-article builds, and ramp plans


Key Duties
  • Develop and evaluate next-generation system concepts and architectures
  • Perform modeling and simulation (including physical and thermal principles where applicable) to derive system requirements
  • Conduct trade-off analysis to optimize system performance versus cost and schedule
  • Lead subsystem partitioning aligned to business and technical objectives
  • Ensure comprehensive test, validation, and verification plans are implemented
  • Drive root cause analysis and resolution of complex system-level issues
  • Lead small cross-functional teams on design issues, supplier escalations, and manufacturing challenges
  • Support prototype testing, data analysis, and performance validation
  • Develop diagnostic strategies for system troubleshooting and reliability improvement
  • Mentor and develop junior system engineers and influence engineering best practices


Preferred Qualifications
  • Strong background in modeling and simulation of complex systems (electrical, optical, thermal, or multi-physics)
  • Experience developing computational models to analyze system performance under varying conditions
  • Knowledge of optical, electromechanical, imaging, thermal, or motion control systems
  • Familiarity with scripting languages (e.g., Python) for modeling or data analysis
  • Exposure to AI - Skill based/Agent based AI to drive faster work flows.
  • Demonstrated expertise in system-level diagnostics and troubleshooting
  • Strong analytical problem-solving skills across complex, multi-disciplinary systems
  • Ability to communicate effectively across all organizational levels and global teams


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

Minimum Qualifications
  • Technical degree in Electrical Engineering, Material Engineering, Physics, Systems Engineering
  • 5-10 years of experience in electrical hardware development and productization
  • Proven experience with NPI, pilot builds, and manufacturing ramp-up
  • Demonstrated success taking hardware designs from concept through manufacturing release
  • Strong hands-on experience with lab equipment (oscilloscopes, DMMs, signal generators, analyzers)
  • Experience supporting manufacturing builds and resolving cross-disciplinary issues
  • Strong communication, documentation, and problem-solving skills
  • Experience working with global suppliers and contract manufacturers
  • Familiarity with semiconductor equipment, industrial systems, or high-reliability products
  • Experience in mixed-signal systems, power distribution, or system-level electrical design
  • Understanding of regulatory, safety, and compliance requirements


Base Pay Range: $136,300.00 - $231,700.00 Annually

Primary Location: USA-CA-Milpitas-KLA

KLA's 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

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at KLA Tencor

More Enterprise Technology Jobs

Find similar System Design Engineer jobs: