Principal Machine Learning Engineer – Wafer Fabrication
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Nov 4, 2026. First seen by Alion on Sep 9, 2026. Coherent scores B on the Alion truth index.
Primary Duties & Responsibilities
- Develop and validate models for yield improvement, screening accuracy, and process optimization through application of model selection and hyperparameter tuning.
- Collaborate with Photonics designers and process, reliability and manufacturing engineers to align ML approaches with product objectives and to quantify cost-benefit analysis.
- Deploy AI/ML within manufacturing systems through a combination of Edge AI, API serving, Containerization, and Cloud-based training and inference
- Partner with industrial and MES software engineers to integrate AI/ML pipelines within existing production workflows
- Develop reusable data pipelines, analytical tools, dashboards, and model-monitoring methods.
- Support design of experiments, process characterization, and continuous improvement activities.
- Help establish best practices for ML, and share the practices across the site and other sites.
Skills
The Candidate will have competency in the following areas:
- Expertise in deep learning frameworks such as Pytorch, TensorFlow
- Expertise deep learning architectures such as CNNs, RNNs, GANs
- Expertise in ML methods such as Random Forests and Gradient Boosting
- Experience with clustering, feature engineering, and dimensionality reduction methods
- Proficiency in ML model deployment through RESTful APIs, containerization, and container orchestration
- Experience with SQL and modern data-processing or data-platform technologies.
- Familiarity with statistical methods, experimental design, regression, classification, clustering, anomaly detection, and model evaluation
- Programming skills in Python and experience with common data-science and machine-learning libraries is a plus
- Familiarity with high-performance ML inference (CUDA, Libtorch, ONNX Runtime, C++ programming and data structures) is a strong plus
- Experience with cloud-based ML training and inference using AWS, GCP, Azure, or Databrix is a plus
- Familiarity with machine vision such as defect detection and OCR is a plus
- Familiarity with big data frameworks such as Hadoop and Spark is a plus
- Exposure to manufacturing, wafer fabrication, photonics, telecommunicationsis a plus
- Demonstrated ability to take an analysis from problem definition through deployment, validation, and communication of results.
Education & Experience
The Candidate will have minimum 5 years of experience with AI, preferably including ML, preferably with experience in statistical analytic techniques, and 3 years experiencein a production environment.
A Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, or related field with specialization in Data Science, AI/ML, or Statistics; aMaster’sdegree is preferred.
Working Conditions
The job is on-site for the first three months, with the possibility to convert to hybrid afterwards. The job requires weekly morning hours and occasional evening and weekend hours. Travel to other Coherent sites in the Bay Area and the US may be possible to share knowledge with other experts.
Physical Requirements
- Sitting or standing for several hours per day, with the option of having a sit-stand desk.
- Extensive keyboard and mouse work.
Safety Requirements
All employees are required to follow the site EHS procedures and Coherent Corp. Corporate EHS standards.
Quality and Environmental Responsibilities
Depending on location, this position may be responsible for the execution and maintenance of the ISO 9000, 9001, 14001 and/or other applicable standards that may apply to the relevant roles and responsibilities within the Quality Management System and Environmental Management System.
Culture Commitment
Ensure adherence to company’s values (ICARE) in all aspects of your position at Coherent Corp.:
Integrity - Create an Environment of Trust
Collaboration - Innovate Through the Sharing of Ideas
Accountability - Own the Process and the Outcome
Respect - Recognize the Value in Everyone
Enthusiasm - Find a Sense of Purpose in Work
Coherent Corp. is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.
If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at [email protected].