Process Engineer FIB/TEM Operations - Santa Clara, CA, United States
$124,000 - $171,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 25 September 2026 by the employer.
About the role
This role involves designing and optimizing manufacturing processes for display and semiconductor technologies, collecting and analyzing data, and troubleshooting engineering issues. The focus is on driving quality and operational improvement initiatives within the metrology organization, specifically for FIB/TEM operations.
What you'll do
- Lead quality improvement initiatives within the FIB/TEM quality framework to enhance consistency, repeatability, and operational performance.
- Develop quality standards, acceptance criteria, metrics, and best practices for FIB/TEM operations.
- Analyze quality and operational data to identify improvement opportunities and implement corrective actions.
- Partner with hardware and equipment teams and suppliers to improve tool capability, availability, calibration, and consistency.
- Lead projects focused on productivity, workflow optimization, automation, tool expansion, and overall operational effectiveness.
- Identify operational bottlenecks and drive initiatives to improve throughput, cycle time, capacity, and overall lab efficiency.
What you'll need
- BS or higher degree in Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, Chemistry, or a related technical field.
- 3+ years of experience in semiconductor metrology, characterization, process engineering, quality engineering, failure analysis, or lab operations.
- Hands-on experience operating FIB and/or TEM/STEM in a laboratory or semiconductor environment.
- Experience driving quality improvements through metrics, root-cause analysis, corrective actions, or process standardization.
- Strong analytical, communication, and stakeholder-management skills.
- Ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and work effectively across multiple teams.
Nice to have
- Experience with both FIB sample preparation and TEM/STEM imaging.
- Experience supporting FIB/TEM lab operations or semiconductor manufacturing environments.
- Experience leading quality, operational, or process-improvement projects.
- Familiarity with SPC, MSA, DOE, Six Sigma, or similar quality methodologies.
- Experience with data analytics, automation, or digital transformation initiatives.
Skills: FIB, TEM, SEM, metrology, quality improvement, operational efficiency
This role has been open 1 day — well below the 44-day median for Failure Analysis Engineering roles.
Failure Analysis Engineering · Failure Analysis
|
Open roles in category
190
|
Median days open
44 d
|
Median salary
$114k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Applied Materials | All employers we track in this specialty (190 roles · 39 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 3 | 190 |
| Open roles in the wider Process, Fab & Equipment family | 1063 | 9460 · 108 employers |
| Median days open | 62 d | 44 d (+18 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $114k |
Skills observed across this category: FIB, TEM, SEM, metrology, quality improvement, operational efficiency
Who's hiring in this category
- Micron Technology · 33 open roles · median 64 d
- GlobalFoundries · 14 open roles · median 5 d
- Lam Research · 14 open roles · median 32 d
- AMD · 11 open roles · median 59 d
- Infineon Technologies · 11 open roles · median 48 d
- Intel Corporation · 10 open roles · median 38 d
How we counted: 190 open Failure Analysis Engineering (Failure Analysis) roles from 39 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 27 Sept 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 Process, Fab & Equipment family row. Figures refresh nightly.