Technical Lead - Software Engineer

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As a Software Engineer at Applied Materials, you’ll dive deep into ground-breaking technologies—like machine learning and AI—to craft novel software solutions that solve our customers’ high-value problems. Our Software Engineers are responsible for designing, prototyping, developing, and debugging software solutions for semiconductor equipment components and devices to ensure quality and functionality. You'll develop software documentation and test procedures, troubleshoot software problems, and communicate with internal customers to understand project requirements. As part of our team, you'll contribute your expertise in intricate systems, deciphering code, and anticipating software behaviors to ensure Applied remains the leader in the semiconductor and display sectors.

Technical Lead - Software:

Build software that powers semiconductor manufacturing.

We're looking for a Technical Lead who enjoys solving complex business and engineering problems, not just writing code.

You will build software that drives semiconductor manufacturing automation, working closely with product teams, domain experts, customers, and engineers to deliver meaningful operational impact.

This role is for someone who combines strong software engineering fundamentals with sound technical judgement. Someone who can move comfortably across different layers of the system, understand the underlying business problem, and make pragmatic technology decisions that stand the test of time.

If you’re excited by learning how the business works, challenging assumptions, simplifying complexity, and building high-quality systems end-to-end, we'd love to talk to you.

What you'll do

• Lead the design and development of scalable, reliable software solutions for semiconductor manufacturing automation.
• Drive architecture and technical direction across services, making pragmatic technology choices based on scalability, reliability, simplicity, and maintainability.
• Work across the stack when needed, including frontend, backend, databases, messaging, infrastructure, Kubernetes configurations, agentic/AI-powered systems, and helm charts.
• Partner with product managers, customers, and domain experts to understand semiconductor manufacturing workflows and translate operational challenges into effective software solutions.
• Deliver solutions that improve manufacturing outcomes such as productivity, quality, throughput, automation, and operational efficiency.
• Mentor engineers through technical coaching, design reviews, and code reviews.
• Improve system reliability, observability, performance, and operational excellence.
• Influence product direction through technical judgement and growing domain expertise.

What we're looking for

Core engineering capabilities

• 8+ years of software engineering experience building and operating production-grade systems.
• Strong foundations in software design, distributed systems, data structures, algorithms, and system architecture.
• Strong experience designing and building backend services using technologies such as Python, TypeScript, NestJS, or similar.
• Experience developing modern web applications using frameworks such as React or Angular.
• Experience selecting and working with relational and NoSQL databases based on application needs.
• Experience in data science, machine learning, reinforcement learning related projects
• Experience designing event-driven architectures and message-based systems.
• Experience deploying, operating, and troubleshooting applications on Kubernetes.
• Experience developing software for complex operational environments such as manufacturing automation, factory operations, industrial engineering, engineering workflows, or productivity platforms is a plus.
• Exposure to AI, machine learning, agentic systems, analytics, optimization, or simulation-based software solutions is a plus.

More importantly...

We value engineering judgement over experience with any specific technology.

You should be able to:

• Select the right tool for the problem rather than forcing a favorite technology.
• Challenge complexity and simplify architectures where possible.
• Balance short-term delivery needs with long-term maintainability.
• Understand trade-offs and make pragmatic engineering decisions.
• Learn unfamiliar domains quickly and apply that understanding to product decisions.

You'll thrive here if you...

• Are curious about how products create business value.
• Enjoy learning domain knowledge, not just technology.
• Take ownership beyond your immediate component or service.
• Can zoom out from implementation details and think at a system level.
• Care deeply about software quality, reliability, and customer outcomes.
• Prefer solving hard problems over working within narrowly defined boundaries.

What success looks like

• You become a trusted technical leader across the team.
• Your architectural decisions improve product scalability and maintainability.
• Engineers seek your input on complex technical challenges.
• You influence both technical and product decisions.
• You develop enough semiconductor manufacturing knowledge to help shape solutions, not just implement requirements.

Additional Information

Time Type:

Full time

Employee Type:

Assignee / Regular

Travel:

Not Specified

Relocation Eligible:

Yes

Applied Materials is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law.