Senior Manager – Firmware Engineering

A Day in Your Life at MKS

The Senior Manager – Firmware Engineering will lead and scale the firmware organization within the MKS India Center, supporting Vacuum Solutions Division products across sustaining engineering, production support, validation, product development, qualification, and NPI.

The role will build a globally integrated team that progresses from task execution to ownership of firmware deliverables, workstreams, platforms, subsystems, and selected product outcomes. The leader will provide technical and people leadership across embedded domain while driving modern engineering practices, AI-assisted development, CI/CD, test automation, quality and productivity.

You Will Make an Impact By

• Lead firmware sustainment, enhancements, defect resolution, production support, qualification, redesign, NPI, and future product-development programs.
• Provide technical oversight of embedded firmware, real-time controls, instrumentation, communications, diagnostics, device software, and firmware architecture.
• Build and scale the organization through workforce planning, hiring, onboarding, competency development, mentoring, career paths, succession planning, and development of future technical and people leaders.
• Partner with global engineering and product teams to align priorities, roadmaps, resources, standards, and accountability; participate in architecture, requirements, design, code, and technical reviews.
• Establish disciplined firmware lifecycle practices covering requirements traceability, coding standards, design and code reviews, configuration and release management, verification, static analysis, cybersecurity, and defect prevention.
• Drive responsible adoption of AI-assisted development, CI/CD, automated testing, DevOps, reusable firmware platforms, and engineering metrics to improve quality, throughput, and cycle time.
• Partner with Systems Engineering, Software QA, Validation, Reliability, Compliance, and Performance Analysis on product verification, qualification, reliability, field issues, and root-cause investigations.
• Manage portfolio priorities, capacity, budget inputs, delivery, risks, and engineering metrics, with clear visibility of commitments, skills, workload, and hiring needs.
• Create a culture of ownership, collaboration, reuse, automation, continuous improvement, and engineering excellence.

Key Result Areas

Delivery: On-time delivery, schedule predictability, backlog health, and responsiveness.

Quality: Defect density and leakage, repeat defects, field issues, and corrective-action effectiveness.

Productivity and Automation: Development cycle time, automated test coverage, CI/CD maturity, firmware reuse, and measurable benefits from approved AI and automation tools.

Talent: Hiring, time to productivity, skill coverage, retention, internal development, and succession readiness.

Skills You Bring:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electronics, Electrical, Computer Engineering, Embedded Systems, or a related discipline.
• 15+ years of firmware or embedded-systems experience, including 8+ years leading engineering teams and managers.
• Strong technical depth in embedded C/C++, real-time systems, processors, device interfaces, communications, diagnostics, and firmware architecture.
• Experience leading the firmware lifecycle from requirements and design through integration, verification, release, sustaining, and field support.
• Demonstrated success scaling teams, developing leaders, and establishing engineering processes and governance.
• Practical experience with CI/CD, automated testing, DevOps, reusable platforms, and measurable engineering-productivity improvement.
• Ability to deploy AI-assisted engineering tools responsibly while protecting quality, security, intellectual property, traceability, and human review.
• Strong global collaboration, program execution, resource planning, risk management, stakeholder management, and ownership mindset.

Preferred Skills:

• Leadership experience in semiconductor equipment, power electronics, RF, industrial automation, instrumentation, or other complex capital equipment.
• Experience with high-reliability products, product qualification, regulatory compliance, hardware-in-the-loop testing, simulation, or product cybersecurity.
• Experience building or scaling an India-based global engineering capability.

Globally, our policy is to recruit individuals from wide and diverse backgrounds. However, certain positions require access to controlled goods and technologies subject to various export control regulations.  Applicants for these positions may be limited (by, for example, their countries of citizenship, country of origin, or immigration status) where required by law or governmental contact, and/or employment made contingent upon the issuance of appropriate governmental licensing.

MKS Inc. and its affiliates and subsidiaries (“MKS”) is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer: diverse candidates are encouraged to apply. We win as a team and are committed to recruiting and hiring qualified applicants regardless of race, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), religion, age, ancestry, physical or mental disability or handicap, marital status, membership in the uniformed services, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, or any other category protected by applicable law. Hiring decisions are based on merit, qualifications and business needs. We conduct background checks and drug screens, in accordance with applicable law and company policies.  MKS is generally only hiring candidates who reside in states where we are registered to do business.

MKS is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process due to a disability, please contact us at: accommodationsatMKS@mksinst.com .

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