Senior Technical Program Manager - USA

Nearfield Instruments; Portland (OR); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Nearfield Instruments in Oregon seeks a Technical Program Manager to act as a technical bridge between the customer and Nearfield's teams. You will support new product introductions, application development, and early production ramp at a major customer site.

This hands-on, customer-facing role emphasizes learning, execution, and collaboration as you help ensure AFM solutions are evaluated, adopted, and transferred into production environments while building deep expertise in metrology

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering or related technical field.
• 6–10 years in engineering, applications, process development, or field technical roles.
• Experience in semiconductor manufacturing, capital equipment, or advanced metrology is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Train with product and applications teams to build technical expertise on new tools and AFM applications.
• Support new product introductions (NPI) and assist with transferring processes and applications to the customer site.
• Work closely with field hardware, software, and product teams to troubleshoot issues and support root-cause investigations.
• Participate in experiments and evaluations with the customer to support process development and continuous improvement.
• Serve as a day-to-day technical interface for the customer on development and early production topics.
• Escalate technical issues as needed, working with senior engineers and product teams to drive timely resolution.
• Document learnings from NPI and development activities and support their incorporation into product documentation and rollout packages.
• Support knowledge transfer to additional customer sites as technologies move toward higher-volume manufacturing.
• Identify follow-on opportunities for new applications or hardware improvements in collaboration with account management and product teams.

Skills

Customer-facing

Strong communication

Team collaboration

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering

Job description

Nearfield Instruments is a fast-growing technology company bringing together creative minds in science and engineering to develop a revolutionary high-throughput atomic force microscopy (AFM) platform. Our systems enable atom-scale, true-3D metrology at industry-relevant throughput and are becoming critical tools for advanced semiconductor manufacturing.

We design, develop, integrate, market, and support these advanced metrology systems and are expanding rapidly across the U.S. and Asia.

What You'll Be Doing

As a Technical Program manager within the Key Account organization, you will serve as an on-site technical contributor supporting Nearfield's products at a major customer location. You will work closely with customer development teams and Nearfield's product and engineering groups to support new product introductions, application development, and early production ramp.

This role is hands-on and customer-facing, with a strong focus on learning, execution, and collaboration. You will help ensure Nearfield's AFM solutions are successfully evaluated, adopted, and transferred into production environments, while building deep expertise in advanced metrology applications.

You will act as a technical bridge between the customer and Nearfield headquarters, supporting experiments, troubleshooting issues, and capturing best-known methods (BKMs) to enable smooth technology transfer over time.

• Train with Nearfield product and applications teams to build technical expertise on new tools and AFM applications
• Support new product introductions (NPI) and assist with transferring processes and applications to the customer site
• Work closely with field hardware, software, and product teams to troubleshoot issues and support root-cause investigations
• Participate in experiments and evaluations with the customer to support process development and continuous improvement
• Serve as a day-to-day technical interface for the customer on development and early production topics
• Escalate technical issues as needed, working with senior engineers and product teams to drive timely resolution
• Document learnings from NPI and development activities and support their incorporation into product documentation and rollout packages
• Support knowledge transfer to additional customer sites as technologies move toward higher-volume manufacturing
• Identify follow-on opportunities for new applications or hardware improvements in collaboration with account management and product teams

What We're Looking For

We are looking for an engineer who enjoys working at the intersection of customer engagement, hands-on engineering, and product development. You don't need to have all the answers on day one—but you should be comfortable learning quickly, asking good questions, and working across teams.

Required / Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering or a related technical field
• Approximately 6–10 years of experience in engineering, applications, process development, or field technical roles
• Experience in semiconductor manufacturing, capital equipment, or advanced metrology is strongly preferred
• Ability to work effectively in a customer-facing environment
• Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts clearly
• Organized and detail-oriented, with the ability to manage multiple activities in parallel
• Willingness to travel occasionally to customer sites and to the Netherlands for training and technical collaboration
• Primary customer location will be Hillsboro, Oregon
• Experience with advanced process equipment, development environments, or companies such as ASM or similar is a plus, but not required.