System Engineering 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. KLA Instruments™ is our instrumentation division, which designs advanced metrology and inspection instruments used in both R&D and production across industries and academia. Our tools-ranging from optical profilers and nano-indenters to thin film and defect inspection systems-enable precise surface and material analysis. We partner closely with customers to enable R&D, improve yield, optimize processes, and reduce production costs through innovative hardware, software and application expertise.

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.

Group/Division

The Semiconductor Products and Customers (Semi PC) business unit designs, builds, and sells KLA’s product portfolio, helping chip manufacturers meet high quality standards for technologies such as 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. You will be part of the Instruments group within the Surfscan Division, which comprises four business groups: Surfscan, ADE, ECI, and Instruments. Surfscan, ADE, and ECI offer unpatterned wafer inspection, wafer geometry and chemical monitoring, and process control solutions, respectively.

KLA Instruments™ is our instrumentation division, which designs advanced metrology and inspection instruments used in both R&D and production across industry and academia. Our tools, ranging from optical profilers and nano-indenters to thin film and defect inspection systems, enable precise surface and material analysis. We partner closely with customers to enable R&D, improve yield, optimize processes, and reduce production costs through innovative hardware, software, and application expertise.

KLA is seeking a Systems Engineering Manager to support optical and optomechanical metrology instruments developed by our engineering group in Newport, Wales. The manager will lead a team of hardware systems engineers driving complex instrument design and development of the next generation of metrology tools for KLA Instruments.

You will partner with cross-functional internal teams, division management, and external partners and customers.

Key responsibilities:

• Develop detailed system requirement specifications from customer and marketing requirements using systems engineering methodology.
• Develop and implement innovative design improvements to released products and drive the development of novel next-generation products.
• Identify key technical and schedule risks and develop mitigation plans to ensure on-time delivery.
• Create cross-training materials to advance the team’s skills.
• Lead field customer escalations requiring engineering support for system performance problems, providing advanced troubleshooting and written plans of action remotely, or active technical leadership on-site at customer locations worldwide.
• Write high-level technical reports communicating issues, analysis, technical assessments, system status, best-known methods, and engineering recommendations.
• Design and drive multidisciplinary experiments and write detailed test plans for system testing.
• Work closely with service, manufacturing, and marketing teams to define and optimize system performance and resolve performance issues.
• Coordinate with outside vendors to develop and deliver subsystem and products.
• Lead engineers in designing, integrating, and testing systems through product development phases, from prototype to volume manufacturing.

Qualifications and Education Desired

• Doctorate or Master’s degree in Physics, Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or an equivalent related discipline.
• Extensive experience developing complex hardware or capital equipment (semiconductor tools, optomechanical equipment, aerospace-grade mechanisms, or similar).
• People management experience leading engineers through concept-to-release development.
• Strong background in the design and development of precision instruments, with demonstrated analysis and problem-solving skills.
• Strong diagnostic and troubleshooting skills in optical, electromechanical, and software systems, and their interactions, in the context of complex industrial equipment.
• Experience with optics, lasers and illumination systems, and CCD/CMOS cameras is essential.
• Familiarity with scientific and statistical analysis tools and software such as Python, MATLAB, JMP, and LabVIEW.
• Agility and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced program and respond quickly to field and internal escalations.
• Effective communicator able to share technical information with functional groups and provide executive-level reports to management and customers

Ability and willingness to travel up to 15% internationally (United States, Europe, and Asia) for collaboration, training, and customer engagement.

KLA benefits package includes:

Annual leave starting at 25 days (plus bank holidays), contributory pension scheme, cash health plan, cycle to work scheme, global bonus plan, share scheme, rewards scheme, life assurance and car allowance.

Minimum Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

Doctorate (Academic) degree or equivalent and related work experience; Master’s degree or equivalent and related work experience; or Bachelor’s degree or equivalent and extensive related work experience.

All levels require a proven ability to lead, including people management 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.

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.

We offer a competitive, family friendly total rewards package. We design our programs to reflect our commitment to an inclusive environment, while ensuring we provide benefits that meet the diverse needs of our employees.

KLA is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.