Senior Applications Engineer – Mass Spectrometry | Semiconductor

Location: Milpitas, CA | Work Mode: Onsite | Travel: Up to 30% domestic & international | Employment: Full-Time

About the Role

We are seeking a Senior Applications Engineer with strong hands-on experience in mass spectrometry, residual gas analysis (RGA), analytical instrumentation, and semiconductor process applications. The successful candidate will report to the Director of Applications and work closely with Business Development, Sales, Marketing, Engineering, and R&D teams. This role will lead technical customer engagements, develop application-specific solutions around the company's flagship Aston product, support customer evaluations at semiconductor OEMs and fabs, and contribute to next-generation product development. This is a highly customer-facing technical role combining applications engineering, semiconductor process monitoring, analytical instrumentation, product development, and pre-sales technical support.

Responsibilities

• Develop deep operational expertise in Aston products and technologies.
• Lead technical engagements with semiconductor OEMs and fabs.
• Develop application-specific solutions based on customer requirements.
• Support Aston system evaluations at semiconductor manufacturing facilities.
• Perform onsite system setup, debugging, calibration, validation, and performance analysis.
• Develop application-specific hardware/software solution bundles.
• Identify application requirements early in the customer engagement process.
• Develop customer engagement plans, technical proposals, and execution timelines.
• Conduct customer-facing presentations, technical demonstrations, and training.
• Acquire and analyze customer samples and prepare technical analysis reports.
• Support pre-sales activities and help convert technical evaluations into commercial opportunities.
• Build strong technical relationships with customers.
• Identify new market and application opportunities.
• Contribute to product roadmap and new product definition.
• Translate system-level requirements into component performance specifications.
• Participate in product development and engineering design reviews.
• Diagnose and resolve system-level technical issues.
• Collaborate with engineering and R&D teams to improve product performance and application capabilities.

Requirements

• M.S. with 6+ years of relevant experience OR Ph.D. with 2+ years of relevant experience in:
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Materials Science
  • or related technical discipline.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience developing mass-spectrometry-based solutions for novel applications.
• Strong experience with mass spectrometers, residual gas analysis (RGA), gas analyzers, or plasma diagnostics.
• Experience with mass spectrometric residual gas analysis and sampling interfaces.
• Familiarity with semiconductor manufacturing processes such as:
  • Etch
  • CVD
  • ALD
  • Process monitoring
• Experience with analytical instrumentation configuration, calibration, validation, and performance testing.
• Understanding of new product introduction (NPI), including requirements definition, prototype evaluation, testing, troubleshooting, and system-level debugging.
• Proven experience delivering customer-facing technical presentations and pre-sales demonstrations.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong customer engagement and relationship-management abilities.
• Self-motivated and comfortable working in a dynamic, early-stage environment.
• Willingness to travel up to 30% domestically and internationally.
• Ability to work onsite in Milpitas, CA.

Skills

• Sales
• Customer engagement
• Semiconductor process applications
• Application-specific solutions
• Gas analysis (RGA)
• Evaluations and demonstrations
• Analytical instrumentation