Process Support Engineer III - Santa Clara, CA, United States
$124,000 - $171,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 9 July 2026 by the employer.
About the role
As a Process Support Engineer (PSE), you will guide products through their entire lifecycle, from initial concept to final qualification, providing customer support through on-site installations, system diagnoses, and the service and repair of complex semiconductor equipment. Technical focus spans Chemical Vapor Deposition, Atomic Layer Deposition, Plasma Reactive Ion Etch, Physical Vapor Deposition, Anneal, and Implant technologies.
What you'll do
- Provide customer support through on-site installations, system diagnoses, and the service and repair of complex systems and equipment. - Collaborate with customers and R&D teams to develop semiconductor manufacturing processes used to produce advanced chips. - Create hypothesis experiments and design of experiments (DOE), analyze data with statistics, and compile reports with conclusions on process engineering experiments. - Troubleshoot complex problems, perform root cause analysis, and resolve difficult process engineering and customer product issues. - Communicate with internal stakeholders and customers, serving as a liaison between customer teams and the business unit. - Serve as a resource for junior colleagues and lead small projects with defined resource requirements.
What you'll need
- Bachelor’s degree in chemistry, physics, materials engineering, electrical engineering, optoelectronics, or a related field. - 4–7 years of experience on PVD/CVD/ALD in the semiconductor fab or equipment industry. - Experience with root cause analysis, troubleshooting, and design of experiments (DOE). - Proficiency in English communication.
Nice to have
- Master’s degree or PhD in a related field.
Skills: PVD/CVD/ALD, on-site installations, system diagnoses, process engineering experiments, service and repair, semiconductor equipment
This role has been open 103 days — well above the 55-day median for Semiconductor Equipment Engineering roles.
Semiconductor Equipment Engineering · Manufacturing Equipment
|
Open roles in category
3898
|
Median days open
55 d
|
Median salary
$126k
|
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 (3898 roles · 82 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 674 | 3898 |
| Open roles in the wider Process, Fab & Equipment family | 1150 | 10037 · 107 employers |
| Median days open | 50 d | 55 d (−5 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $126k |
Skills observed across this category: PVD/CVD/ALD, on-site installations, system diagnoses, process engineering experiments, service and repair, semiconductor equipment
Who's hiring in this category
- Applied Materials (this employer) · 674 open roles · median 50 d
- Lam Research · 578 open roles · median 41 d
- Micron Technology · 285 open roles · median 46 d
- KLA Corporation · 248 open roles · median 70 d
- ASML · 188 open roles · median 71 d
- ASM International · 165 open roles · median 89 d
How we counted: 3898 open Semiconductor Equipment Engineering (Manufacturing Equipment) roles from 82 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 Process, Fab & Equipment family row. Figures refresh nightly.