Customer Engagement Applications Engineer - Austin, TX, United States
$83,100 - $141,300 USD yearly
Originally posted 21 July 2026 by the employer.
About the role
The Customer Engagement Applications Engineer provides technical expertise for KLA's inspection and metrology products to support semiconductor manufacturing yield from R&D through high-volume production. The role combines customer support, product demonstrations, and technical characterization of semiconductor wafer inspection systems.
What you'll do
- Lead product penetration and adoption support, customer demonstrations, and head-to-head (H2H) evaluations at customer facilities. - Investigate semiconductor manufacturing yield issues and provide tailored inspection solutions. - Support new product introductions, tool characterization, beta testing, and early evaluation tools. - Assist sales teams in assessing customer requirements, preparing detailed product specifications, and building rapid prototype mini-applications to show feasibility. - Craft test plans, collect and analyze data, and generate best known method (BKM) documents, application notes, and customer training materials. - Travel (> 30%) within the US to support customer sites and evaluations.
What you'll need
- Master's degree in Engineering, Physics, or a related field with 0 years of experience, or a Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Physics, or a related field with 2 years of related work experience. - Training or formal educational background in semiconductor technology or related fields. - Demonstrated technical troubleshooting skills with a methodical problem-solving approach. - Willingness and ability to travel over 30% within the United States.
Nice to have
- Background in IC processing or semiconductor equipment.
Skills: customer support, product demonstrations, sales integration, semiconductor manufacturing yield
This role has been open 90 days — well above the 71-day median for Applications FAE roles.
Applications FAE · Manufacturing Equipment
|
Open roles in category
189
|
Median days open
71 d
|
Median salary
$158k
|
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 (189 roles · 17 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 43 | 189 |
| Median days open | 117 d | 71 d (+46 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $158k |
Skills observed across this category: customer support, product demonstrations, sales integration, semiconductor manufacturing yield
Who's hiring in this category
- Teradyne · 57 open roles · median 31 d
- KLA Corporation (this employer) · 42 open roles · median 118 d
- Applied Materials · 30 open roles · median 103 d
- Keysight Technologies · 15 open roles · median 69 d
- ASML · 7 open roles · median 118 d
- ASM International · 6 open roles · median 184 d
How we counted: 189 open Applications FAE (Manufacturing Equipment) roles from 17 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 19 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.