Software Engineer 3

Onto Innovation•Wilmington, MA

11d•$96,800 - $145,200

About The Position

Onto Innovation is seeking a Software Engineer to join its Inspection Business Unit. The role focuses on understanding a complex inspection platform spanning optics, mechanics, electronics, and software, and translating customer problems and application requirements into appropriate technical solutions. The engineer will develop software and algorithms for inspection platforms, with scope and ownership tailored to experience level. The work involves applying machine learning, image processing, computer vision, mathematics, and optics; developing or contributing to optical imaging models and calibration, as well as image segmentation, classification, and detection algorithms; and producing reliable, high-performance software. The engineer will collaborate with hardware, application, systems, and software teams on new product development, participate in design and code reviews, and use AI coding agents while retaining ownership of architecture and code quality. The position also involves documentation, continuous learning, workflow improvement, and technical mentorship at senior levels. International travel to customer sites is required at least 20% of the time, with additional travel as business needs require. The stated base salary range is $96,800 to $145,200, based on experience, location, and qualifications; annual bonus opportunities and potential long-term incentives are also offered.

Requirements

PhD, MS, or Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Physics, or a related field.
Related experience may be zero or more years for candidates with a doctorate, master's degree, or bachelor's degree.
Ability to reason about systems at multiple levels of abstraction, from high-level architecture to implementation details.
Strong problem-solving, analytical, and communication skills, including the ability to explain complex system behavior to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Competency or demonstrable coursework in at least one numerically focused environment such as Python or MATLAB, including linear algebra, image processing, and/or machine learning libraries.
Competency or demonstrable coursework in at least one compiled or production language used in large-scale software systems, such as C++, C#, or Java.
Ability to travel internationally to customer sites at least 20% of the time.

Nice To Haves

Experience in semiconductor inspection, machine vision, robotics, or similar technical domains where hardware/software co-design is essential.
Track record of diagnosing cross-subsystem issues spanning optics, electronics, firmware, and application software.
Experience using AI coding agents such as Copilot, Cursor, or Aider to accelerate development.
Experience with software development methodologies such as Agile, Scrum, or Kanban.
Experience with version control and CI/CD practices.
Experience debugging complex multi-threaded software environments.
Familiarity with embedded systems, hardware communication protocols, and/or real-time constraints.

Responsibilities

Build and continuously refine an accurate mental model of the inspection platform, including optics, motion, electronics, image acquisition, and the software stack.
Translate customer problems and application requirements into well-scoped engineering tasks by reasoning across subsystem boundaries.
Move between system-level architecture and specific technical areas such as databases, algorithm performance, hardware, data flow, GPUs, and GUIs.
Participate in new product development with hardware engineers, application engineers, Technical Project Managers, and Program/Product Managers.
Apply machine learning, image processing, computer vision, mathematics, and optics to develop algorithms integrated into inspection platforms.
Develop or contribute to optical imaging modeling and calibration, and/or image segmentation, classification, and detection algorithms.
Write, test, and debug software to ensure reliable operation, optimizing for performance and scalability.
Perform or lead requirement analysis, detailed software design, production code development, and associated test plans, depending on experience.
Participate in design and code reviews with systems engineers, software developers, and other technical staff.
Use AI coding agents to accelerate implementation while maintaining ownership of architecture decisions, design integrity, and code quality.
Stay current with research and industrial practices in machine vision inspection, image processing, machine learning, and AI-assisted engineering.
Document software designs, system-level rationale, development processes, and troubleshooting steps.
Support teammates and, at senior levels, provide technical mentorship, especially in systems thinking.
Contribute to improvements in development workflows and tooling, including AI-assisted practices.
Travel internationally to customer sites at least 20% of the time, with additional travel as business needs require.