R&D System Design Engineer

KLA-Belgium; Singapore; On-site; SGD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Total rewards package

Inclusive environment

Equal opportunity employer

Job summary

KLA is seeking a Senior System Design Engineer to lead the design and integration of Inspection and Metrology machines. You will collaborate with Mechanical, Hardware, Optics and Software teams to translate customer needs into automated, high‑precision solutions and validate them with rigorous testing.

You will guide multi‑disciplinary projects, balancing technical and commercial constraints while ensuring on‑time delivery and performance targets.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in electro‑mechanical, electronics, or mechanical engineering with strong software logic knowledge.
• 3+ years in a system engineering role in high‑end equipment industries.
• Experience across machine design, PLC hardware/software, UI, SW flows, testing and debugging.
• Ability to lead multi‑disciplinary projects and manage budgets/timelines.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop Inspection and Metrology machines, integrating mechanical, optical and software blocks.
• Analyze customer requirements and translate into measurable design requirements.
• Verify solutions with high‑speed mechatronic testing and parameter analysis.
• Coordinate cross‑team design and implementation for module integration.
• Write PLC test sequences and translate into SW requirements.
• Lead a multi‑disciplinary project/product team with budget, timeline and resource oversight.

Skills

Electro-mechanical

Electronics

Mechanical engineering

Analytical skills

Project management

English proficiency

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher

Tools

PLC programming

C

C++

Python

VBA

Job description

Company Overview

Company Overview KLA is a global leader in diversified electronics for the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem. Virtually every electronic device in the world is produced using our technologies. No laptop, smartphone, wearable device, voice-controlled gadget, flexible screen, VR device or smart car would have made it into your hands without us. KLA invents systems and solutions for the manufacturing of wafers and reticles, integrated circuits, packaging, printed circuit boards and flat panel displays. The innovative ideas and devices that are advancing humanity all begin with inspiration, research and development. KLA focuses more than average on innovation and we invest 15% of sales back into R&D. Our expert teams of physicists, engineers, data scientists and problem-solvers work together with the world’s leading technology providers to accelerate the delivery of tomorrow’s electronic devices. Life here is exciting and our teams thrive on tackling really hard problems. There is never a dull moment with us.

Group/Division

Group/Division The ICOS Vision Systems division focuses on the backend of the line semiconductor industry providing fully automated tools to inspect and sort, finished integrated circuit packages. For more than 15 years, ICOS has been a market leader with tray-to-tray and tray-to-tape inspection and sorting tools found in the production facilities of all major chipmakers in the world. Our market-leading technology and superior customer service requires strong talent in optics, machine control, algorithms and applications within our engineering teams. The ICOS division headquarters are in Leuven, Belgium with additional engineering and manufacturing operations in Singapore and Shenzhen (China).

Job Description/Preferred Qualifications

As part of our system Engineering team, you play a key role in the design and development of our Inspection and Metrology machines. In your role you will work hands‑on on the mechanical integration, process optimization and automation of the machine. Your work will involve integration of the mechatronic, optical and software building blocks and will hence work closely together with Mechanical design, Hardware, Optics and software teams. It is your job to analyze customer requirements, build up a deep understanding of the problem and translate these into automated solutions that you detail clearly in measurable design requirements. To verify the solutions, you will build and test high-speed mechatronic setups for spec validation and critical parameter analysis. Once these are confirmed, you will coordinate the design and implementation in the different teams to eventually integrate tested modules and building blocks in the machine and assess the impact of the integration on the overall machine performance. You get the chance to confirm high speed Pick and Place handling capabilities at key customers on site and broaden your customer and application know‑how along the way. Furthermore, you seek the challenge of understanding, analyzing, (re‑)defining, and implementing sophisticated material handling flows until the level of detailed micro‑sequences. You will often write PLC level test sequences for mockup validation and data collection. Once the system is validated, translate these sequences into SW requirements. As a senior system design engineer, you are considered as project/product owner. That means, besides technical work, you will also lead a multi‑disciplinary team on a project/product basis. You need to consider both technical but also commercial (e.g. budget, timeline, resource) aspects while managing your project/product.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher with outstanding skill in electro‑mechanical, electronics, or mechanical engineering; with sound knowledge on basic software logics
• 3+ years relevant experience in a system engineering role in a high‑end equipment company
• Covering most of following technical domains: machine conceptual and mechanical design, setting up specifications, PLC controller hardware and software design, user interface, SW (describing, testing of flows), conversion, test protocols, debugging, characterization, lead improvement projects
• Strong analytical capabilities and project/program management skills
• Programming skills are a plus (PLC controllers, C, C++ Python, VBA, …)
• Independent thinking, challenging existing ideas and approaches
• Hands‑on, self‑organized, taking initiative and ownership
• Occasional travel within Asia & Europe
• Proficient in English

Benefits

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.