Mechanical Design Manager - Milpitas, CA, United States
$181,000 - $307,700 USD yearly
Originally posted 6 July 2026 by the employer.
Lead mechanical or opto-mechanical engineering teams developing Surfscan wafer inspection equipment.
About the role
Lead a team of either mechanical or opto-mechanical engineers to develop wafer inspection equipment from concept through production. You will drive technical strategies and lead multidisciplinary engineering execution for Surfscan inspection platforms.
What you'll do
- Lead a team of mechanical or opto-mechanical engineers through the execution of complex hardware programs from concept through production. - Drive technical strategies and develop engineering talent across multidisciplinary projects. - Translate system-level requirements into engineering solutions for wafer inspection equipment. - Align stakeholders, communicate technical concepts, and guide cross-functional decisions across development teams. - Lead mechanical design efforts in precision systems or semiconductor equipment, focusing on either opto-mechanical systems or platform design.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's degree with 15+ years, Master's with 10+ years, or PhD with 7+ years of relevant experience, including demonstrated leadership experience. - Track record of leading mechanical design efforts that delivered commercially successful technology products. - Experience in precision systems or semiconductor equipment design with expertise in either opto-mechanical systems (first-order optics, optical mounting, alignment, tolerancing, DUV applications) or platform design (precision stages and wafer chucks, vibration analysis and isolation, motion control, thermal management, structural and frame design). - Demonstrated ability to solve complex, multidisciplinary engineering problems and drive them to resolution.
This role has been open 107 days — well above the 51-day median for Hardware Systems Engineering roles.
Hardware Systems Engineering · AI ML Hardware
|
Open roles in category
992
|
Median days open
51 d
|
Median salary
$154k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | KLA Corporation | All employers we track in this specialty (992 roles · 104 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 63 | 992 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 209 | 6296 · 145 employers |
| Median days open | 47 d | 51 d (−4 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $154k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Intel Corporation · 76 open roles · median 33 d
- KLA Corporation (this employer) · 63 open roles · median 47 d
- Teradyne · 57 open roles · median 33 d
- NVIDIA · 52 open roles · median 68 d
- Applied Materials · 51 open roles · median 69 d
- AMD · 47 open roles · median 53 d
How we counted: 992 open Hardware Systems Engineering (AI ML Hardware) roles from 104 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 21 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 — it is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.