Division Product Development Applications Manager

To make electronics, you need chips, wafers, transistors, reticles, and... To make these, you must see, test and manufacture them at scale—faster and better than ever before. That's where KLA comes in. Whether you're early in your career or an experienced professional, you'll solve complex challenges, work alongside brilliant minds and help shape the future of technology.

Group/Division

The Semiconductor Products and Customers (Semi PC) business unit designs, builds and sells KLA’s product portfolio to help chip manufacturers meet high-quality standards for technologies like AI, data centers, automotive and electronic devices. Our inspection, metrology, and analytics systems detect and monitor defects across logic and memory chips, specialty semiconductors, wafers, reticles, advanced packaging, process equipment and materials. We also develop technologies for specialty processes, IC substrates, and PCB manufacturing, including etch and deposition, component inspection, and imaging and analytics. The Film and Scatterometry Technology (FaST) division delivers industry-leading metrology solutions essential to advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Its portfolio includes systems for measuring film thickness, critical dimensions, composition, and resistivity—key to developing and scaling next-gen IC processes. FaST partners closely with customers from early R&D through high-volume production, ensuring performance and process alignment.

What You'll Do

In this role, you will play a key part in advancing business priorities by delivering high-impact work across your area of expertise.

Position Overview

The Film and Scatterometry Technology (FaST) Division develops and supports market-leading optical metrology systems used throughout the semiconductor industry for advanced process control. Our automated metrology solutions utilize polarized UV/visible light and X-ray technologies to accurately measure thin-film thicknesses ranging from less than 1 nm to several microns, as well as critical dimensions and complex 3D structures from sub-10 nm features to hundreds of nanometers.

We are seeking an experienced leader to manage an Applications Engineering team responsible for metrology characterization, application development, and customer enablement across the product lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership

• Lead a team of Applications Engineers responsible for metrology characterization and application development for advanced critical dimension and thin-film measurement solutions.

• Drive technical execution, team development, prioritization, and resource planning to support new product introductions and customer engagements.

• Foster strong cross-functional collaboration and a culture of technical excellence and continuous improvement.

Product Characterization and Application Development

• Lead metrology characterization activities throughout the Product Lifecycle (PLC) process.

• Develop and validate application solutions for complex semiconductor structures, including advanced 3D device architectures.

• Design and execute experiments to evaluate system and subsystem performance.

• Develop and optimize modeling and measurement recipes for challenging optical metrology applications.

• Support technology readiness and product qualification activities during characterization, alpha, beta, and pilot phases.

Customer Engagement and Technical Support

• Manage in-house customer demonstrations and benchmark activities.

• Support customer evaluations and head-to-head (H2H) comparisons at customer sites.

• Work directly with customers to understand process challenges and develop metrology solutions that address critical manufacturing needs.

• Provide technical training and application support to both internal teams and external customers.

Knowledge Transfer and Best Practices

• Establish and maintain Best Known Method (BKM) documentation, application guidelines, and training materials.

• Drive effective transfer of product knowledge and application expertise to KLA's worldwide Field Applications organization.

• Promote standardization of methodologies and best practices across global teams.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with Engineering, Product Management, Marketing, Sales, Service, and Operations teams to drive product success.

• Serve as a key technical interface between internal development teams and external customer engineering organizations.

• Provide application insights and market feedback to influence future product roadmap and technology development.

Qualifications

• Strong technical background in semiconductor process technology, metrology, optics, or related fields.

• Proven leadership experience managing technical engineering or applications teams.

• Experience with semiconductor process control, optical metrology, thin-film measurements, scatterometry, or critical dimension metrology.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to lead complex technical investigations.

• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to engage effectively with customers, management, and cross-functional teams.

• Demonstrated ability to drive projects across multiple organizations and manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.

Minimum Qualifications

Qualifications/ Education Desired

Candidate must have MS, or PHD in Engineering, Physics, Material Science or related fields with at least 8 years experience in semiconductor metrology related job. Computational modeling knowledge and IC processing/Semiconductor equipment understanding are a plus. Must have excellent communication, organizational, analytical, leadership, and interpersonal skill.

Basic Qualifications

Bachelor's Level Degree with at least 12 years of experience.
OR
Master's Level Degree with at least 10 years of experience.
OR
Doctorate (Academic) with at least 8 years of experience.

About KLA

We provide advanced inspection tools, metrology systems, process solutions, and computational analytics that make electronics possible, tackling complex challenges. From electron and photon optics to machine learning and data analytics, we seek perfection at the most fundamental level of matter in the universe. If you want to make electronics that push industries forward and make the world a better place, join us.

Total Rewards

Base Pay Range: $117,638,200.00 - $172,536,000.00 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.

Use of AI Statement 

At KLA, our interviews seek to understand your individual skills, problem-solving approach and authentic thinking. To ensure a fair and consistent evaluation, the use of AI, recording tools or other technologies to generate, suggest or provide responses during interviews—whether virtual or in person—is not permitted unless explicitly approved in advance as part of a reasonable accommodation or invited by the interviewer. Use of these tools may interfere with our ability to evaluate your individual qualifications and affect your candidacy. KLA is committed to advancing innovation through responsible AI, and we value candidates who share this mindset.

Equal Opportunity Statement

KLA is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We will ensure that qualified individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us at [email protected] or at +1-408-352-2808 to request accommodation.

For additional information, view the US Know Your Rights poster on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission website.