Engineering Director (Global Products Group)

KLA; Newport; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave starting at 25 days (plus

bank holidays)

Contributory pension scheme

Global bonus plan

Cash health plan

Cycle to work scheme

Share scheme

Rewards scheme

Life assurance

Job summary

KLA, a leader in semiconductor inspection and analytics, is seeking an Engineering Director to head the Central Engineering Group in Newport. You will guide a multi-disciplinary team of engineering managers, shaping structure, capability and operating model to support global product divisions and growth.

You will combine strategic leadership with deep technical understanding and strong stakeholder management to align engineering activity with business priorities across KLA.

Qualifications

• Extensive engineering leadership experience leading managers and large technical teams.
• Experience in a complex, multi-disciplinary engineering environment.
• Familiarity with the semiconductor equipment industry or related advanced technology sectors.
• Strong understanding of both hardware and software engineering organisations.
• Experience in central engineering, shared services or engineering support models.
• Demonstrated strategic leadership, commercial awareness and business understanding.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management across global teams.
• Track record of building organisational capability through growth and change.
• Ideally Master's degree or higher in an Engineering discipline.
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally up to 20% (including USA).

Responsibilities

• Lead the Central Engineering Group as the Newport-based function's senior leader.
• Lead through a team of Engineering Managers responsible for specialist disciplines within a multi‑disciplinary organisation.
• Define and evolve the organisational structure, leadership capability and operating model required to support continued growth.
• Ensure the effective delivery of engineering services and support to multiple global product divisions.
• Build strong partnerships with engineering and business leaders across KLA's global organisation.
• Provide strategic leadership that supports technical excellence, operational performance and long‑term organisational success.
• Represent the Central Engineering Group with senior stakeholders across the business and contribute to future capability planning and engineering strategy.
• Provide clear direction while fostering accountability, collaboration and effective decision‑making.
• Develop leadership capability across the management team and support the growth of future engineering leaders.
• Work effectively across international teams and time zones, particularly with US‑based stakeholders.
• Create alignment across engineering functions and business priorities within a highly matrixed environment.
• Support organisational development as the function continues to expand.

Skills

Engineering Leadership

Stakeholder Management

Strategic Thinking

Communication Skills

Commercial Awareness

Team Development

Multi-disciplinary Leadership

Education

Master's degree in Engineering

Job 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.

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. We are looking for an experienced Engineering Director to lead the Central Engineering Group within the Global Products Group. This is a leadership role with responsibility for a growing, multi-disciplinary engineering organisation that supports product divisions across KLA. As the senior leader of the Newport-based function, you will lead through a team of engineering managers and shape the structure, capability and operating approach needed to support continued growth. You will combine strategic leadership, sound technical understanding and strong stakeholder management to align engineering support with business priorities across a global KLA.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the Central Engineering Group as the senior leader of the Newport-based function.
• Lead through a team of Engineering Managers responsible for specialist engineering disciplines within a multi‑disciplinary organisation.
• Define and evolve the organisational structure, leadership capability and operating model required to support continued growth.
• Ensure the effective delivery of engineering services and support to multiple global product divisions.
• Build strong partnerships with engineering and business leaders across KLA's global organisation.
• Provide strategic leadership that supports technical excellence, operational performance and long‑term organisational success.
• Represent the Central Engineering Group with senior stakeholders across the business and contribute to future capability planning and engineering strategy.

Leadership and Collaboration

• Provide clear direction while fostering accountability, collaboration and effective decision‑making.
• Develop leadership capability across the management team and support the growth of future engineering leaders.
• Work effectively across international teams and time zones, particularly with US‑based stakeholders.
• Create alignment across engineering functions and business priorities within a highly matrixed environment.
• Support organisational development as the function continues to expand.

Minimum Qualifications

• Essential experience and capabilities: Significant engineering leadership experience, including leading managers and sizeable technical teams.
• Experience operating within a complex, multi-disciplinary engineering environment.
• Familiarity with the semiconductor equipment industry or related advanced technology sectors.
• Strong understanding of both hardware and software engineering organisations.
• Experience working within a central engineering, shared services or engineering support model.
• Demonstrable strategic leadership, commercial awareness and business understanding.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence across global teams.
• A proven track record of building organisational capability and leading teams through growth and change.
• Ideally educated to Master's degree level or higher in an Engineering discipline.
• Occasional domestic and international travel (up to 20%), including to the United States, may be required as part of this role.

Our Benefits Package Includes

• Annual leave starting at 25 days (plus bank holidays)
• Contributory pension scheme
• Global bonus plan
• Cash health plan
• Cycle to work scheme
• Share scheme
• Rewards scheme
• Life assurance

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.