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Systems Engineering Manager (Metrology Product Development)

KLA · Ann Arbor, MI

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Level
Manager
Team
Quality
Base pay
$130k–$190k
Travel
15%
Degree
Required (or equivalent experience)
Experience asked
10+ years
Industry
Industrial
Posted
23 days ago

The role in 30 seconds

A management quality role at KLA (industrial) in Ann Arbor, MI. , successful candidates will partner with multi-functional internal teams, division management, as well as external partners and customers.

They ask for
10+ years · degree required (or equivalent experience)
Tools it names
Validation (IQ/OQ/PQ), Automation
Base pay
$130k–$190k
Day to day
some off-shift / weekend coverage · about 15% travel

Read from the posting. The full description is below.

From the plant jobs report · week of October 19, 2026

Quality Engineer roles in Michigan: typical posted base $78k–$149k. This one lists $130k–$190k.

Median of the low and high ends of 19 live postings that list pay, out of 57 quality engineer openings in Michigan, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.

Michigan plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →

How this role compares

Against 56 other live quality postings in Michigan.

Base pay
About 41% above similar roles

Typical $78k–$149k, from 18 postings that list pay.

Experience asked
More than usual (10+ vs 3+)

Similar roles usually ask 3+ years.

Skills these teams ask for most

  • Root cause 70%
  • FMEA 53%
  • PPAP 49%
  • SPC 46%
  • Control plans 44%
  • Six Sigma 40%

✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.

It asks for 10+ years. If you're close, apply anyway: requirements are a wish list. Talk to someone doing this work there first.

At a glance

Off-shift / weekend coverage

Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.

How to get in at this plant

Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.

  1. 1

    Pick 2–3 people on the Quality team at KLA

    We found 1 person at this company and state: 1 in this kind of role. Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. See them ↓

  2. 2

    Send a short, curious note

    One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.

    Write to Deepika → (free)
  3. 3

    Turn a reply into a short call

    Questions worth asking about this team:

    • What does a normal week look like on your team?
    • Which standards drive the work here: ISO 13485, IATF 16949, AS9100?
    • How much of the job is customer complaints versus prevention?
    • How does off-shift and weekend coverage work?
    • The posting says about 15% travel. Between which sites?
  4. 4

    Apply with someone vouching for you

    If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.

  5. 5

    Bring proof to the interview

    One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.

This plant: KLA in Ann Arbor

2 other open roles at this site · 1 person we found in quality roles at KLA.

Full description from KLAAs posted on their careers site.Show

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.

KLA is looking for a Systems Engineering Manager to support electron beam based metrology instruments developed in our engineering group in Ann Arbor. The manager will lead a group of hardware systems engineers driving complex instrument designs and is responsible for the development of the next generation of KLA metrology tools!

In this role, successful candidates will partner with multi-functional internal teams, division management, as well as external partners and customers. This role is responsible for:

  • ◆Develop detailed requirement specifications from performance

requirements

using systems engineering methodology.

  • ✓Develop and implement innovative design improvements to currently released products as well as development of novel next generation products.
  • ✓Apply systems engineering principles to optimize critical systems-level instrument performance.
  • ✓Lead team to develop and test systems design improvements, spec validation, and implementation of solutions.
  • ✓Create material for cross-training and team’s skill advancement.
  • ✓Lead field customer concerns of sophisticated system performance problems, by providing written plans of action remotely or provide active technical leadership on-site at customer sites worldwide.
  • ✓Write high-level technical reports to communicate issues, analysis, technical assessments, system status, best-known-methods, and engineering recommendations.
  • ✓Design and drive multi-disciplinary experiments, write detailed test plans for systems testing.
  • ✓Interface closely with service, manufacturing and marketing teams to define and optimize system performance and resolve performance issues.
  • ✓Coordinate with outside vendors to develop and deliver sub-system products.
  • ✓Lead engineers to design, integrate and test engineering prototype systems.

Qualifications/Education Desired

  • ✓B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics (M.S. preferred) or equivalent related discipline.
  • ✓10+ years of experience developing complex hardware/capital equipment (semiconductor tools, precision vacuum systems, opto-mechanical equipment, aerospace-grade mechanisms, or similar).
  • ✓People management experience leading engineers through concept-to-release development.
  • ✓Have a solid understanding of precision instruments, and control systems.
  • ✓Must have solid track record of problem solving.
  • ✓Experience with high vacuum systems.
  • ✓Experience with electron beam based instruments such as scanning electron microscopes.
  • ✓Have excellent oral and written communication, organizational and analytical skills.
  • ✓Previous experience with process control instrument systems for semiconductor industry is desired.
  • ✓Ability to travel up to 15% for training and for support of customers worldwide is required.

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree or higher in related field or equivalent combination of any relevant education and experience; 6+ years of relevant experience with proven ability to lead including 2+ years of management 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.

Total Rewards

Primary Location: USA-MI-Ann Arbor-KLA

KLA’s total rewards package for employees may also include participation in performance incentive programs and eligibility for additional benefits including but not limited to: medical, dental, vision, life, and other voluntary benefits, 401(K) including company matching, employee stock purchase program (ESPP), student debt assistance, tuition reimbursement program, development and career growth opportunities and programs, financial planning benefits, wellness benefits including an employee assistance program (EAP), paid time off and paid company holidays, and family care and bonding leave.

Interns are eligible for some of the benefits listed. Our pay ranges are determined by role, level, and location. The range displayed reflects the pay for this position in the primary location identified in this posting. Actual pay depends on several factors, including state minimum pay wage rates, location, job-related

Show full description ↓

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's Central Engineering organization is made up of nine Centers of Excellence (CoEs) spanning disciplines like automation, motion control, sensors, platform design, and packaging. Each CoE contributes not only technical deliverables but also deep expertise, best practices, and advanced tools that elevate both what we build—and how we build it.

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