Sr. Electron Optical Systems Design Engineer - Milpitas, CA, United States
$186,200 - $273,067 USD yearly
Originally posted 17 September 2026 by the employer.
About the role
This role involves leading the design, analysis, validation, and optimization of electron optical systems and subsystems for inspection, review, and metrology.
What you'll do
- Lead the development of electron optical subsystems for new products and advanced technology programs.
- Define subsystem requirements, performance budgets, and interfaces across electron sources, columns, detectors, deflection systems, calibration solutions, and vacuum subsystems.
- Lead the design and optimization of advanced electron optical subsystems, including electron sources, lenses, aberration correction, beam transport, and detection systems.
- Apply expertise in electron optics modeling, charged-particle simulation, aberration analysis, beam transport, detector signal formation, noise and SNR prediction, tolerance analysis, high voltage and calibration strategies.
- Define and execute validation plans for electron optical subsystems.
- Support the transition of electron optical technologies from concept through production.
What you'll need
- PhD in Physics, Applied Physics, Electron Optics, Electrical/Electromagnetics Engineering, Optical Engineering, or related technical discipline.
- 8+ years of experience in electron optics, charged-particle systems, semiconductor equipment, microscopy, or related fields.
- Strong expertise in Electron sources, Electron optics simulation, Charged-particle optics, Detector physics, High-voltage systems, Vacuum systems, Calibration methodologies, Advanced SEM architecture, and Aberration analysis and correction.
Nice to have
- Technical leadership within product and advanced development programs.
This role has been open 21 days — well below the 50-day median for Hardware Systems Engineering roles.
Hardware Systems Engineering · AI ML Hardware
|
Open roles in category
939
|
Median days open
50 d
|
Median salary
$157k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | KLA Corporation | All employers we track in this specialty (939 roles · 103 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 57 | 939 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 198 | 6085 · 146 employers |
| Median days open | 41 d | 50 d (−9 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $157k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Intel Corporation · 70 open roles · median 27 d
- KLA Corporation (this employer) · 57 open roles · median 41 d
- NVIDIA · 53 open roles · median 63 d
- Teradyne · 47 open roles · median 21 d
- Applied Materials · 46 open roles · median 58 d
- AMD · 44 open roles · median 61 d
How we counted: 939 open Hardware Systems Engineering (AI ML Hardware) roles from 103 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 9 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.