Senior Systems Software Engineer — Industrial Fab Automation

About Us:

How many companies can say they’ve been in business for over 177 years?!

Here at ZEISS, we certainly can! As the pioneers of science, ZEISS handles the everchanging environments in a fast-paced world, meeting it with cutting edge of technologies and continuous advancements. ZEISS believes that innovation and technology are the key to a sustainable future and solutions for global change. We have a diverse range of portfolios throughout the ZEISS family in segments like, Industrial Quality & Research, Medical Technology, Consumer Markets and Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology. We are a global company with over 42,000 employees and have over 4,000 in the US and Canada alone! Make a difference, come join the team!

What’s the Role?

The Senior Systems Software Engineer – Industrial Fab Automation is a senior individual contributor within the ZEISS IQS cross-divisional program, delivering advanced CT-based inspection solutions for semiconductor advanced packaging.

This role focuses on integrating ZEISS Inspect with fab-level automation frameworks and equipment, building robust back-end services (primarily gRPC) that interface with fab automation platforms (e.g., Cimetrix, Kontron, PEER Group) and, where applicable, computer vision frameworks.

The position ensures inspection workflows are seamlessly orchestrated within semiconductor fabs, meeting strict requirements for throughput, reliability, security, and fab standards. You will collaborate closely with global teams (IQS, SMT) and customer fabs to design, implement, test, and deploy production-grade fab automation interfaces, including wafer navigation, MES integration, and tool controller interactions.

Sound Interesting?

Here’s what you’ll do:

• Design and implement back-end services and interfaces (primarily gRPC) integrating ZEISS Inspect with fab automation frameworks and fab-level controllers

• Develop software supporting wafer navigation and orchestrating end-to-end inspection workflows within semiconductor fabs

• Own service-level concerns including performance, reliability, observability, fault tolerance, and secure deployment

• Build and maintain automated test pipelines, including fab simulators, hardware-/system-in-the-loop testing, and CI/CD workflows

• Collaborate with internal automation, controls, metrology, and computer vision teams, as well as external fab stakeholders, to gather requirements and deliver production-ready integrations

• Integrate with or leverage computer vision frameworks (e.g., Cognex) to support fab workflows where required

• Implement and maintain logging, metrics, and distributed tracing for fab-deployed services to support operations and troubleshooting

• Participate in architecture/design reviews, code reviews, and continuous improvement initiatives

• Author and maintain technical design documentation, configuration guides, and operational runbooks

• Support root-cause analysis and resolution of issues during fab qualification, pilot runs, and production deployments

Do you qualify?

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field; Master’s degree preferred

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a focus on back-end services or systems software

• Strong coding proficiency in C++ and C#, with working proficiency in Python

• Proven experience designing and building server architectures and networked services (e.g., gRPC or comparable RPC frameworks)

• Hands-on experience with DevOps and automated testing pipelines (e.g., Git-based CI/CD, automated builds and tests, artifact management, and deployment pipelines)

• Solid foundation in software engineering best practices, including version control, code reviews, debugging/profiling, and testable code design

• Experience with fab automation frameworks (e.g., Cimetrix, Kontron, PEER Group)

• Experience with computer vision frameworks (e.g., Cognex) in industrial or semiconductor environments

• Background in industrial automation, including robots, motion systems, PLCs, machine controllers, or factory MES

• Experience developing Windows and Linux services, including containerized and orchestrated environments

• Familiarity with observability practices, performance tuning for high-throughput systems, and secure communication patterns (e.g., Protocol Buffers, RBAC)

• Experience in metrology or semiconductor manufacturing, particularly advanced packaging and wafer-level workflows

The annual base salary range for this position is:

• Central / Midwest: $110,000 – $138,000

Your ZEISS Recruiting Team:

Zeiss provides Equal Employment Opportunity without unlawful regard to an Applicants race, color, religion, creed, sex, gender, marital status, age, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, military or veteran status, citizen status, sexual orientation, pregnancy (includes childbirth, breastfeeding or related medical condition), genetic predisposition, carrier status, gender expression or identity, including transgender identity, or any other class or characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law of the employee (or the people with whom the employee associates, including relatives and friends).