Software Engineer 3

Onto Innovation•Wilmington, NC

About The Position

Onto Innovation is seeking a Software Engineer to join the Inspection Business Unit (IBU). This role requires an individual who can maintain a global, system-level view of a complex inspection platform, encompassing optics, mechanics, electronics, and software, while also being able to delve into specific details when necessary. The ideal candidate will possess the critical skill of maintaining an accurate mental model of complex systems and effectively mapping customer problems to technical solutions, especially in light of AI coding agents' capabilities.

Requirements

0–5 years of experience.
PhD, MS, or Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Physics, or related field.
Demonstrated ability to reason about systems at multiple levels of abstraction—from high-level architecture down to implementation details.
Strong problem-solving, analytical, and communication skills; able to articulate complex system behavior clearly to both 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.

Nice To Haves

Experience in semiconductor inspection, machine vision, robotics, or similar highly technical domains where hardware/software co-design is essential.
Track record of diagnosing cross-subsystem issues that span optics, electronics, firmware, and application software.
Experience effectively using AI coding agents (e.g., Copilot, Cursor, Aider, or similar) 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.
Competency (or demonstrable coursework) in at least one compiled or production language used in large-scale software systems, such as C++, C#, or Java.

Responsibilities

Build and continuously refine an accurate mental model of the full Onto inspection platform—optics, motion, electronics, image acquisition, and software stack.
Translate customer problems and application requirements into well-scoped engineering tasks by reasoning across subsystem boundaries.
Demonstrate agility to zoom from system-level architecture down into specific areas such as databases, algorithm performance, hardware, data flow, GPUs, GUIs, etc.
Participate in New Product Development (NPD) alongside 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 Onto inspection platforms.
Develop or contribute to optical imaging modeling/calibration and/or image segmentation, classification, and detection algorithms.
Write, test, and debug software to ensure high-quality, reliable operation; optimize for performance and scalability.
Perform or lead requirement analysis, detailed software design, production code development, and associated test plans.
Participate in design/code reviews collaborating with systems engineers, software developers, and other technical staff.
Leverage AI coding agents to accelerate implementation, while maintaining ownership of architecture decisions, design integrity, and code quality.
Stay current with academic 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 improving the team's development workflows and tooling, including AI-assisted practices.