Systems Engineer III (E3) - Santa Clara, CA, United States
$138,000 - $190,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 23 June 2026 by the employer. Relisted by the employer on 25 September 2026.
About the role
As an Optical Systems Engineer, you will support product development activities of an optical lithography system with applications in the advanced packaging market. You will contribute across product development phases from customer requirements and system specifications through prototyping, validation, manufacturing, and field support.
What you'll do
- Identify scope, constraints, and risks for the design, fabrication, testing, and volume production of optical components for optical lithography systems. - Develop and maintain error budgets, derive design specifications for subsystems, modules, and components, and define requirements for system alpha testing. - Design and execute experiments (DOE) to validate error budgets and conduct concept and feasibility testing of roadmap HW and SW features. - Define and execute test plans for prototype acceptance and qualification of subsystems, modules, and components. - Develop and maintain optical metrology HW and SW to enable automated measurement of key performance metrics for optical assemblies. - Troubleshoot and root-cause complex system-level issues in manufacturing and field environments, including escalations and failure analysis.
What you'll need
- MS or PhD in Optics, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field with 0–7 years of experience. - Hands-on experience designing, assembling, calibrating, and using complex opto-mechanical instrumentation or systems incorporating light sources, optical sensors, lenses, and filters. - Experience designing and executing test plans, concept studies, and feasibility studies. - Strong programming or scripting experience in Matlab or Python. - Demonstrated ability to perform system and subsystem level SW debugging using error messages and SW logs. - Proficiency with data analysis and data visualization techniques.
Nice to have
- Experience with image processing and SW automation. - Experience with optical modeling and simulation. - Experience with optical metrology development and qualification. - Experience using Claude code or other AI tools. - Experience debugging software issues with hardware- or software-related root causes. - Experience supporting manufacturing and service teams through procedures, OMS, and BKMs.
This role has been open 135 days — well above the 59-day median for Packaging Engineering roles.
Packaging Engineering · Advanced Packaging
|
Open roles in category
302
|
Median days open
59 d
|
Median salary
$167k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Applied Materials | All employers we track in this specialty (302 roles · 59 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 11 | 302 |
| Open roles in the wider Process, Fab & Equipment family | 1140 | 10080 · 106 employers |
| Median days open | 119 d | 59 d (+60 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $167k |
Who's hiring in this category
- KLA Corporation · 42 open roles · median 135 d
- Micron Technology · 40 open roles · median 41 d
- Renesas Electronics · 21 open roles · median 45 d
- Intel Corporation · 20 open roles · median 27 d
- GlobalFoundries · 14 open roles · median 67 d
- Lumilens · 13 open roles · median 78 d
How we counted: 302 open Packaging Engineering (Advanced Packaging) roles from 59 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 24 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.