Senior Applications Engineer

Senior Applications Engineer

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.

The Senior Applications Engineer is responsible for leading the development, validation, and deployment of advanced inspection solutions across Onto Innovation's inspection product portfolio. Serving as a key technical leader within the Product Lifecycle (PLC) Applications Development organization, this role drives product readiness, application innovation, customer adoption, and technology commercialization.

The successful candidate will work closely with Product Development, Systems Engineering, Software, Algorithms, Product Management, Marketing, and Customer-facing organizations to transform emerging technologies into scalable, production-ready customer solutions. This position plays a critical role in New Product Introduction (NPI), strategic customer engagements, application development, competitive benchmarking, and roadmap validation across wafer inspection, advanced packaging, and semiconductor manufacturing applications.

This role operates in a highly collaborative, multinational environment, partnering with engineering teams, field organizations, and customers across North America, Asia, and Europe. The successful candidate must be comfortable working across diverse cultures, time zones, and business environments while supporting global product deployment, customer evaluations, product demonstrations, and strategic business initiatives. The position requires domestic and international travel of up to 30%.

• Lead development and optimization of advanced inspection recipes for defect detection, classification, process monitoring, and yield improvement applications.
• Design customer-focused workflows that demonstrate product differentiation, manufacturing relevance, and business value.
• Establish and validate Best Known Methods (BKMs) for global deployment across multiple inspection platforms.
• Drive application strategies supporting wafer inspection, advanced packaging, heterogeneous integration, and emerging semiconductor technologies.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior engineers and cross-functional project teams.

• Lead application characterization, benchmarking, and qualification activities for new products and roadmap technologies.
• Develop and execute comprehensive validation plans covering sensitivity, accuracy, throughput, nuisance rate, repeatability, and production readiness.
• Define customer-relevant use cases and performance benchmarks for product acceptance.
• Support release readiness reviews and ensure successful product deployment.
• Partner with Product Management and Development teams to influence product requirements and roadmap priorities.

• Lead technical demonstrations for customers, executive reviews, product launches, and marketing initiatives.
• Develop compelling evaluation workflows that highlight product capabilities and competitive advantages.
• Support strategic customer evaluations, proof-of-concept projects, and competitive benchmark studies.
• Define success criteria and technical evaluation methodologies for customer engagements.
• Serve as a technical expert and trusted advisor during critical customer programs.

• Collaborate closely with Systems, Optics, Software, Algorithms, Product Management, Marketing, and Business Units.
• Translate customer requirements into actionable product and application requirements.
• Provide structured application feedback that influences technology development and product specifications.
• Coordinate activities across multiple engineering and business organizations to achieve product readiness objectives.
• Represent Applications Engineering in product development reviews and technology planning discussions.

• Analyze inspection, process, and customer datasets to identify optimization opportunities and drive performance improvements.
• Lead machine learning and Automated Defect Classification (ADC) validation initiatives.
• Develop statistical methodologies and data-driven approaches for application optimization.
• Generate performance reports, benchmark analyses, and customer-facing technical documentation.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives that enhance product performance and customer productivity.

• Develop application guides, validation reports, best practices, deployment procedures, and technical documentation.
• Establish and…