Manager, Software Engineering

Onto Innovation is a leader in process control, combining global scale with an expanded portfolio of leading-edge technologies that include: 3D metrology spanning the chip from nanometer-scale transistors to micron-level die-interconnects; macro defect inspection of wafers and packages; metal interconnect composition; factory analytics; and lithography for advanced semiconductor packaging. Our breadth of offerings across the entire semiconductor value chain helps our customers solve their most difficult yield, device performance, quality, and reliability issues.

Onto Innovation strives to optimize customers' critical path of progress by making them smarter, faster and more efficient.

Job Summary & Responsibilities

Position Summary

The Software Engineering Manager leads software development at Onto Tucson, owning the team and the codebase for 4D branded products. 4D's product portfolio is primarily optical metrology - specifically laser interferometry - and industrial metrology - primarily fringe projection - along with the software tools used in production of these devices.

This is a player-coach role: the Software Engineering Manager runs the team, sets technical direction, and stays close enough to the code to make architecture and code-review calls - while owning hiring, performance management, and cross-functional partnerships with Engineering, Product Management, Manufacturing, Service, and Quality.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership

• Lead, hire, and develop a team of software engineers and QA engineers across desktop application development, firmware / embedded engineering, and internal tooling, partnering closely with the Software Architect on technical direction.
• Conduct performance reviews, succession planning, hiring, and career development; build progression paths from junior to mid / senior level.
• Establish team rituals: standups, code-review cadence, sprint planning, retrospectives.
• Restore disciplined Scrum practice across the team: sprint planning, daily standups, sprint review, retrospectives, and a well-groomed product backlog.
• Build a culture of technical excellence, ownership, and continuous improvement.

Technical Leadership

• Set technical direction for the software portfolio: customer-facing analysis tools, instrument firmware, and internal manufacturing / test software.
• Own software development practices: code review, testing standards, branching and release strategy, CI / CD, version-control discipline.
• Make and document architecture decisions; participate hands-on in design reviews and complex code reviews.
• Maintain a roadmap for technical debt, platform health, and security / compliance updates.

Customer-Facing Software (Analysis & Visualization)

• Drive development of customer-facing software.
• Partner with Product Management on roadmap, feature prioritization, and customer release commitments.
• Coordinate with the Senior Service Manager on field issues that originate in software, including hot-fix release planning.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Engineering on product development, New Product Introduction (NPI), and Engineering Changes (ECs / ECOs) that have software impact.
• Partner with the Senior Service Manager on field-software issues, FSE diagnostic tools, and customer escalations with a software root cause.
• Partner with Quality on QMS-related software documentation, validation, software-related CAPAs, and audit support.

Software Quality & Release Management

• Own the software quality program: defect tracking, regression testing, release validation, and customer-facing release notes.
• Plan, track, and deliver software releases on commitment using Jira; track program status against committed milestones.
• Track and report software KPIs to senior leadership; provide weekly program status.
• Ensure software development practices align with applicable QMS requirements

AI Adoption & Engineering Productivity

• Drive adoption of AI-assisted development tools - Git Hub Copilot, Claude Opus, and other LLM-based pair-programming and code-review tools - as a primary lever for engineering productivity and code quality.
• Establish prompt-engineering and AI pair-programming best practices; build internal…