Software Engineering Manager
KLA · Newport, United Kingdom · 2d ago
To make electronics, you need chips, wafers, transistors, reticles, and... To make these, you must see, test and manufacture them at scale—faster and better than ever before. That's where KLA comes in. Whether you're early in your career or an experienced professional, you'll solve complex challenges, work alongside brilliant minds and help shape the future of technology.
Group/Division
The Semiconductor Products and Customers (Semi PC) business unit designs, builds and sells KLA’s product portfolio to help chip manufacturers meet high-quality standards for technologies like AI, data centers, automotive and electronic devices. Our inspection, metrology, and analytics systems detect and monitor defects across logic and memory chips, specialty semiconductors, wafers, reticles, advanced packaging, process equipment and materials. We also develop technologies for specialty processes, IC substrates, and PCB manufacturing, including etch and deposition, component inspection, and imaging and analytics. KLA Instruments™ is our instrumentation division, which designs advanced metrology and inspection instruments used in both R&D and production across industries and academia. Our tools—ranging from optical profilers and nano-indenters to thin film and defect inspection systems—enable precise surface and material analysis. We partner closely with customers to enable R&D, improve yield, optimize processes, and reduce production costs through innovative hardware, software and application expertise.What You'll Do
In this role, you will play a key part in advancing business priorities by delivering high-impact work across your area of expertise.
As a Software Engineering Manager on this team, you will lead and grow a multidisciplinary group of software and firmware engineers who design, develop, release, and support our families of surface profiler, thin film, sheet resistance and nanoindentation measurement instruments. You will be responsible for both people leadership and technical direction spanning embedded firmware, Windows desktop applications, software architecture, and measurement and data-analysis algorithms, leveraging cutting-edge technologies and the latest advancements in software engineering and AI/ML/DL. You will partner closely with hardware, systems, product, and global engineering teams to deliver high-quality products on schedule.
Responsibilities:
- Lead, mentor, and develop a team of software and firmware engineers—setting clear goals, giving regular feedback, conducting performance reviews, and supporting career growth
- Provide technical direction and oversight across embedded firmware, Windows desktop software (C#/.NET, C++), software architecture, and measurement, data-analysis, and signal/image-processing algorithms
- Own planning and execution for your team—scope and estimate work, manage schedules and priorities, communicate risks and tradeoffs, and deliver releases on schedule
- Drive sound architecture and design decisions through design and code reviews, and uphold engineering standards for quality, performance, reliability, and security
- Recruit, hire, and onboard top engineering talent while building an inclusive, high-performing, and collaborative team culture
- Collaborate cross-functionally with hardware, systems, product management, manufacturing, and customer-facing teams to define requirements and align on roadmaps
- Partner with globally distributed teams across the US, Europe, and Asia on system integration, software releases, and shared engineering best practices
- Champion responsible adoption of AI/ML and AI-assisted development tools under company security policies, remove obstacles, and foster root-cause analysis and continuous improvement in process and product quality
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree (required) + significant relevant experience; Master’s or advanced degree (desired) + relevant experience in Computer Science, Software, Electrical, Industrial, or Manufacturing Engineering, or Physics, including people-management or technical-lead experience.
- Demonstrated ability to lead, mentor, and grow software and firmware engineering teams and to deliver complex products on schedule.
- A solid understanding of software engineering fundamentals—software architecture, data structures, algorithms, design patterns, event-driven and multithreaded design, testing, and debugging—sufficient to guide technical decisions across the team.
- Technical breadth across the team’s technology areas, including experience with:
- Microsoft .NET and C# for Windows desktop applications
- C and C++ programming, including embedded firmware
- Software architecture for complex, real-time systems
- Measurement, data-analysis, or signal/image-processing algorithms
- Source code control (Git), modern development practices, and software design and coding standards
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence peers, interdisciplinary engineering groups, customers, suppliers, and senior leadership, including delivering clear technical and program presentations
- Adept at managing and collaborating with teams across the US, Europe, and Asia
- Strong organizational, planning, and problem-solving skills with a systematic, data-driven approach to leading teams
Preferred:
- Experience managing multidisciplinary teams spanning firmware/embedded, desktop application, and algorithm development
- Experience in the semiconductor, metrology, inspection, or scientific-instrument domain
- Experience with Agile/Scrum and modern software development lifecycle and release management
- Experience delivering AI/ML capabilities in products
- Experience improving engineering processes, diagnostics/observability, and software quality for complex systems
Travel:
Occasional travel may be required to KLA headquarters, customer sites, or other business locations. Travel is expected to be less than 10% of working time.
Occasional domestic and international travel, including to the United States, may be required as part of this role
What we will offer you?
KLA’s benefits package includes:
Annual leave starting at 25 days (plus bank holidays), contributory pension scheme, cash health plan, cycle to work scheme, global bonus plan, share scheme, rewards scheme, car allowance and life assurance
Minimum Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree (required) + 8yrs relevant experience; Master’s or advanced degree (desired) + 6yrs experience in Computer Science, Software, Electrical, Industrial, or Manufacturing Engineering, or Physics, including at least 2–3 years of people-management or technical-lead experience.
About KLA
We provide advanced inspection tools, metrology systems, process solutions, and computational analytics that make electronics possible, tackling complex challenges. From electron and photon optics to machine learning and data analytics, we seek perfection at the most fundamental level of matter in the universe. If you want to make electronics that push industries forward and make the world a better place, join us.
Use of AI Statement
At KLA, our interviews seek to understand your individual skills, problem-solving approach and authentic thinking. To ensure a fair and consistent evaluation, the use of AI, recording tools or other technologies to generate, suggest or provide responses during interviews—whether virtual or in person—is not permitted unless explicitly approved in advance as part of a reasonable accommodation or invited by the interviewer. Use of these tools may interfere with our ability to evaluate your individual qualifications and affect your candidacy. KLA is committed to advancing innovation through responsible AI, and we value candidates who share this mindset.
We offer a competitive, family friendly total rewards package. We design our programs to reflect our commitment to an inclusive environment, while ensuring we provide benefits that meet the diverse needs of our employees.
KLA is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.