Director, Technical Engagement
$179,300 - $313,800 USD yearly
Originally posted 12 November 2026 by the employer.
About the role
The Director, Technical Engagement directs and leads product and non-product technology programs targeting early insertion of tools and technologies into strategic customer technology nodes. The role serves as the primary technical interface between strategic customers and engineering teams across the Defect Inspection portfolio to address yield- and process-related challenges.
What you'll do
- Provide leadership for developing technical strategies and gain alignment with product division General Managers, heads of engineering, and business unit sales.
- Lead multidisciplinary, cross-divisional teams toward the achievement of technical and commercial objectives.
- Connect and align customer technology roadmaps to advanced product roadmaps to establish strategic alignment.
- Lead, mentor, and develop a team of technical engineers.
- Direct strategic roadmap discussions, competitive and red team reviews, and track and analyze customer use cases to create new opportunities.
- Build working relationships across internal executive teams and external customer organizations, with approximately 25% travel required.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's degree with at least 15 years of relevant experience, Master's degree with at least 13 years of relevant experience, or Doctorate with at least 10 years of relevant experience.
- Experience directing technical engagements and aligning customer roadmaps with tool portfolios.
- Technical background in semiconductor fabrication processes or defect inspection.
- Demonstrated experience managing, hiring, and developing engineering teams.
Nice to have
- MS or PhD degree with a minimum of 10 years of experience in semiconductor fabrication (Yield, Integration, Lithography, or related discipline) or engineering/technology in imaging, optics, or electro-optics R&D.
- Extensive experience and ties to fab processes in Lithography, Etch, CMP, Deposition, Yield, or Integration.
- Deep understanding of Logic/IDM roadmaps.
- Experience with intellectual property (IP-savvy).
- Residence in the Boise area.
Skills: Defect Inspection, Technical Engagement, Yield, KLA Tools, Customer Roadmap
More semiconductor jobs: KLA Corporation jobs · Field applications engineer jobs · Austin jobs
First seen in our index 0 days ago, well below the 86-day median for Applications FAE roles.
Applications FAE · Metrology Inspection
|
Open roles in category
128
|
Median days since first seen
86 d
|
Category median salary (all employers)
$132k
|
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 (128 roles · 8 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 95 | 128 |
| Median days since first seen | 70 d | 86 d (+16 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | n/a | $132k |
Skills observed across this category: Defect Inspection, Technical Engagement, Yield, KLA Tools, Customer Roadmap
Who's hiring in this category
- KLA Corporation (this employer) · 94 open roles · median 76 d
- Onto Innovation · 20 open roles · median 112 d
- ASML · 4 open roles · median 89 d
- Applied Materials · 3 open roles · median 9 d
- Micron Technology · 3 open roles · median 90 d
- Veeco Instruments · 2 open roles · median 105 d
How we counted: 128 open Applications FAE (Metrology Inspection) roles from 8 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 12 Nov 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there. Days are counted from when our index first saw each posting, not from the employer's original posting date.