Product Development Engineer; Hardware, Software & Data Analytics

Company Overview

KLA is a global leader in diversified electronics for the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem. Virtually every electronic device in the world is produced using our technologies. No laptop, smartphone, wearable device, voice‑controlled gadget, flexible screen, VR device or smart car would have made it into your hands without us. KLA invents systems and solutions for the manufacturing of wafers and reticles, integrated circuits, packaging, printed circuit boards and flat panel displays.

The innovative ideas and devices that are advancing humanity all begin with inspiration, research and development. KLA focuses more than average on innovation and we invest 15% of sales back into R&D. Our expert teams of physicists, engineers, data scientists and problem‑solvers work together with the world’s leading technology providers to accelerate the delivery of tomorrow’s electronic devices. Life here is exciting and our teams thrive on tackling really hard problems.

There is never a dull moment with us.

With over 40 years of semiconductor process control experience, chip makers around the globe rely on KLA to ensure that their fabs ramp next‑generation devices to volume production quickly and cost‑effectively. Enabling the movement towards advanced chip design, KLA’s Global Products Group (GPG), which is responsible for creating all of KLA’s metrology and inspection products, is looking for the best and the brightest research scientist, software engineers, application development engineers, and senior product technology process engineers.

The RAPID division is the world leading provider of reticle inspection solutions for the semiconductor industry. The company provides inspection solutions to both the mask shops and the semiconductor fabs to ensure that lithography yields are consistently high thus enabling cost‑effective manufacturing.

As a Product Development Engineer, you will drive system capability through data analytics, data reduction, and predictive analysis
. The role emphasizes translating high‑volume tool and sensor data into actionable insights that improve system performance, reliability, and manufacturability. You will work at the intersection of hardware, software, and analytics to enable data‑driven design decisions and scalable product solutions.

• Define, collect, and analyze source data from semiconductor inspection and process systems to characterize performance and failure modes.
• Develop data reduction strategies to transform raw, high‑dimensional data into meaningful metrics for engineering and manufacturing use.
• Build and maintain analysis pipelines to support system validation, design trade studies, and product optimization.

• Apply statistical analysis, machine learning, and predictive modeling to detect trends, anomalies, and precursors to system degradation.
• Collaborate with algorithm, software, and hardware teams to integrate analytics and AI models into product workflows.
• Use predictive insights to improve uptime, yield, and design robustness across product life cycles.

• Contribute to subsystem integration (optical, mechanical, electrical, software) with a focus on data observability and diagnosability.
• Support prototype bring‑up, system characterization, and engineering validation using data‑centric methods.
• Participate in design and technical reviews, clearly communicating data‑backed recommendations.

• Support manufacturing ramp and field performance by enabling analytics‑based monitoring and troubleshooting.
• Develop technical documentation, dashboards, and analysis reports to scale knowledge across teams.
• Partner with cross‑functional stakeholders to ensure data requirements are aligned with product and customer needs.

• PhD in Engineering or Physical Sciences;
  or MS with 3+ years;
  or BS with 5+ years of relevant experience.
• Experience applying machine learning or AI techniques to system diagnostics, prediction, or optimization.
• Exper…