Staff Process Development Engineer - Austin, United States
$165,000 - $220,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 28 July 2026 by the employer.
About the role
As a Staff Process Development Engineer, you will be responsible for experiment design and execution of new semiconductor and thin-film fabrication methods. This role involves driving the design of each new generation of tools for in-house device development.
What you'll do
- Design and run experiments in the lab alongside senior process engineers.
- Read academic papers and technical literature to inform experimental design and iterate quickly.
- Learn and operate a range of semiconductor tools, including deposition, etch, lithography, and metrology systems.
- Develop, transfer, and optimize process recipes across platforms with a focus on consistency, yield, and throughput.
- Analyze process data, troubleshoot recipe or equipment issues, and document findings.
What you'll need
- PhD with 10 years of experience (or equivalent) developing nanofabrication processes and device flows.
- Experience operating thin film deposition, dry etch, and lithography tools.
- Hands-on cleanroom experience with multi-step fabrication flows.
- Recipe development and optimization for thin film deposition, dry etch, or lithography.
- Familiarity with metrology such as ellipsometry, profilometry, SEM.
Nice to have
- Mechanical or maintenance experience with fab tools.
- Full device-flow experience.
Skills: nanofabrication, thin-film fabrication, process recipes, deposition, etch, lithography
This role has been open 82 days — slightly above the 78-day median for Process Engineering roles.
Process Engineering · Semiconductor Process
|
Open roles in category
1032
|
Median days open
78 d
|
Median salary
$139k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Atomic Semi | All employers we track in this specialty (1032 roles · 56 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 6 | 1032 |
| Open roles in the wider Process, Fab & Equipment family | 24 | 9897 · 109 employers |
| Median days open | 48 d | 78 d (−30 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $139k |
Skills observed across this category: nanofabrication, thin-film fabrication, process recipes, deposition, etch, lithography
Who's hiring in this category
- Micron Technology · 348 open roles · median 142 d
- GlobalFoundries · 77 open roles · median 117 d
- Applied Materials · 74 open roles · median 73 d
- Texas Instruments · 54 open roles · median 53 d
- STMicroelectronics · 51 open roles · median 52 d
- Entegris · 43 open roles · median 37 d
How we counted: 1032 open Process Engineering (Semiconductor Process) roles from 56 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 18 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.