Manufacturing Design Engineering Manager (f/m/d)

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

KLA has manufacturing sites worldwide. The Global Operations (GOPS) team, comprised of Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing Engineering, Installation and Quality, builds our leading-edge technology. GOPS partners with KLA's global supply base and design engineering teams to develop new products, working continuously to build better, faster and more cost-efficient solutions.

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 Manager of Manufacturing Design Engineering, you will lead a team of engineers focused on resolving complex technical challenges and ensuring manufacturing excellence across highly sophisticated semiconductor capital equipment systems. Working closely with R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, and Customer Support teams, you will drive continuous improvement initiatives that enhance product quality, manufacturing yield, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

This role combines people leadership, technical problem-solving, manufacturing support, and cross-functional collaboration in a fast-paced global environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a multidisciplinary team of Manufacturing Design Engineers.
• Own technical support for manufacturing operations, ensuring rapid and effective resolution of complex product and process issues.
• Drive technical escalations and lead structured root cause investigations for manufacturing, supplier, field, and customer-related issues.
• Improve product quality, manufacturing yield, on-time delivery, and operational efficiency through data-driven continuous improvement initiatives.
• Lead manufacturing readiness activities for New Product Introduction (NPI) programs and product transfers into production.
• Partner with R&D, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, and Customer Support teams to ensure successful product execution throughout the product lifecycle.
• Support supplier qualification activities, First Article Inspections (FAI), process validations, and technical issue resolution.
• Develop and standardize troubleshooting methodologies, engineering best practices, and knowledge-sharing processes.
• Build organizational capability through mentoring, coaching, and development of technical talent.
• Communicate project status, technical risks, priorities, and key performance indicators to senior leadership and stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of manufacturing quality systems, process validation, and continuous improvement methodologies.
• Experience working directly with suppliers and contract manufacturing partners.
• Experience supporting semiconductor capital equipment or other complex high-precision systems.
• Proven ability to influence cross-functional teams and drive organizational change.

What You'll Bring

• Strong technical curiosity and a hands-on approach to solving complex engineering challenges.
• A passion for developing people and building high-performing teams.
• The ability to balance strategic planning with operational execution.
• A collaborative mindset and a commitment to continuous improvement.
• Customer-focused thinking with a drive to deliver high-quality solutions.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Physics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Optics, or a related technical discipline.
• Several years of experience in engineering, manufacturing engineering, product engineering, or a related technical field.
• Previous people leadership experience, including coaching and developing engineering teams.
• Strong understanding of integrated electro-optical, mechanical, electronic, motion-control, and software systems.
• Demonstrated success leading technical problem-solving, root cause analysis, and corrective action activities.
• Experience working with NPI programs, manufacturing operations, supplier management, and quality improvement initiatives.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and collaboration skills.
• Experience working effectively in a global, cross-functional organization.

Occasional domestic and international travel, including to the United States, may be required as part of this role

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.