Senior Development Engineer - Early Career (Semiconductor Process Development)

Location: Onsite at the Normandale campus in Bloomington, Minnesota, United States; work includes cleanroom, laboratory, and office environments. Travel: None.

Base salary: $94,000–$118,000 per year.

Company

hirify.global develops data storage devices, with this global R&D group focused on recording-head technologies for HDD products.

What you will do

• Develop and integrate wafer-level fabrication processes for advanced nanoscale devices from concept through prototype demonstration.
• Translate device concepts into wafer process flows, experimental plans, test structures, metrology strategies, and success criteria.
• Plan and execute prototype wafer builds, including experiment sequencing, wafer tracking, work-in-process decisions, and critical process coordination.
• Collaborate across lithography, deposition, dry and wet etch, CMP, cleans, and metrology to integrate process modules into complete device flows.
• Characterize materials, geometries, defects, performance, and reliability using in-line, materials, and device-level data.
• Analyze variation and yield loss, develop process windows and control strategies, document results, support technology transfer, and contribute to intellectual property.

Requirements

• PhD in Materials Science, Physics, Electrical Engineering, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or a related science or engineering field.
• Hands-on experience with semiconductor, MEMS, magnetic-device, photonic-device, or other wafer-level fabrication in an R&D, pilot-line, cleanroom, or manufacturing environment.
• Experience developing or integrating multi-step wafer-fabrication process modules and creating process flows, build plans, experiments, or qualifications.
• Working knowledge of semiconductor processes such as photolithography, thin-film deposition, plasma etch, wet etch, cleans, CMP, thermal processing, wafer bonding, or wafer-level metrology.
• Experience with physical or electrical characterization, process troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, corrective actions, and yield or defect evaluation.
• Experience applying DOE, regression, ANOVA, statistical process control, or process-capability analysis.

Nice to have

• CAD layout, mask-level planning, design-rule review, or process-flow visualization and simulation experience.
• Device-level testing, failure analysis, reliability characterization, yield analysis, or defect Pareto analysis experience.
• Experience with equipment suppliers or transferring processes from R&D into pilot-line or manufacturing operations.
• Familiarity with JMP, Python, R, MATLAB, or similar data-analysis tools.
• Patents, invention disclosures, publications, presentations, or other evidence of process innovation.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time employment with medical, dental, vision, life insurance, disability coverage, and eligibility for a discretionary bonus program.
• 401(k), employee stock purchase plan, health savings account, dependent care, and healthcare spending accounts.
• Paid time off, 12 holidays, paid sick leave, and 16 weeks of paid parental leave.
• On-site café, fitness center, wellness programs, meditation rooms, indoor walking path, cultural events, and volunteer opportunities.