Applications Development Engineer - LS-SWIFT - Milpitas, CA, United States
$120,000 - $204,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 20 July 2026 by the employer.
About the role
Applications Development Engineers in the LS-SWIFT division develop and support patterned wafer inspection systems for high-volume semiconductor manufacturing. The division focuses on Laser Scanning (LS) and Simultaneous Wafer Inspection at Fast Throughput (SWIFT) platforms for defect detection across foundry, logic, DRAM, NAND, automotive, MEMS, and advanced packaging fabs.
What you'll do
- Support customer applications using LS (Laser Scanning) and SWIFT (Simultaneous Wafer Inspection at Fast Throughput) patterned wafer inspection systems. - Enable patterned wafer defect detection across frontside, backside, and edge macro inspection environments. - Apply data science techniques to analyze and visualize massive data sets from wafer inspection systems. - Utilize Python scripting to develop AI-driven applications and apply machine learning/deep learning concepts. - Travel up to 50% of the time to support worldwide customer installations and evaluations.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's degree and 5 years of related work experience, or Master's degree and 3 years of related work experience. - Willingness to travel 50% of the time.
Nice to have
- Hands-on experience with Darkfield optical inspection systems. - Demonstrated proficiency in data science for analysis and visualization of massive data sets. - Familiarity with Python scripting, with exposure to basic machine learning/deep learning concepts for AI-driven applications. - Background in IC processing/semiconductor equipment.
Skills: optical inspection systems, data science for analysis, Python scripting, IC processing/semiconductor equipment, defect detection
This role has been open 91 days — well above the 71-day median for Applications FAE roles.
Applications FAE · Manufacturing Equipment
|
Open roles in category
191
|
Median days open
71 d
|
Median salary
$155k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | KLA Corporation | All employers we track in this specialty (191 roles · 17 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 43 | 191 |
| Median days open | 117 d | 71 d (+46 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $155k |
Skills observed across this category: optical inspection systems, data science for analysis, Python scripting, IC processing/semiconductor equipment, defect detection
Who's hiring in this category
- Teradyne · 58 open roles · median 32 d
- KLA Corporation (this employer) · 43 open roles · median 118 d
- Applied Materials · 29 open roles · median 102 d
- Keysight Technologies · 15 open roles · median 70 d
- ASML · 7 open roles · median 119 d
- Veeco Instruments · 7 open roles · median 77 d
How we counted: 191 open Applications FAE (Manufacturing Equipment) roles from 17 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 20 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there. Figures refresh nightly.