What are the responsibilities and job description for the Sr. Field Service Engineer position at Lam Research?
The group you’ll be a part of
Direct Field Service enables customer success through on-site installation, repair, preventive maintenance, engineering change upgrades, escalation support, and equipment lifecycle service for Lam equipment. The organization is responsible for safe, high-quality, scalable execution that improves installed base performance, productivity, customer trust, and business results.
The impact you’ll make
As an FSE4 or FSE5 at Lam, you will act as Engineer in Charge (EIC), senior technical owner, and technical counterpart to service management. These roles are senior technical leadership positions, not primarily shift-coverage or transactional repair roles. You will own complex troubleshooting, structured problem solving, technical recovery plans, installation and machine-performance execution, and customer-facing technical communication. You will convert ambiguous problems into defensible models, executable game plans, safe work plans, clear decisions, and measurable results, maintaining technical continuity until success criteria are met or ownership is formally transferred.
What you’ll do
- Serve as Engineer in Charge (EIC) or senior technical owner for assigned product lines, tool sets, installations, escalations, upgrades, conversions, or recovery projects, with clear accountability for technical outcomes and customer/company commitments.
- Establish a single executable technical plan with clear problem definition, success criteria, decision points, owners, timing, required resources, risk controls, and escalation thresholds.
- Lead complex, ambiguous, intermittent, chronic, or high-impact troubleshooting from containment through hypothesis development, model creation, testing, learning, verification, permanent resolution, and recurrence prevention.
- Create and maintain Model Based Problem Solving (MBPS) artifacts, including accurate problem statements, system models, fault hypotheses, test matrices, decision trees, evidence, conclusions, and next actions.
- Develop executable game plans that define work sequence, resources, parts, procedures, data capture, hold points, recovery options, and success criteria.
- Create, review, and lead Pre-Task Plans (PTP), risk assessments, procedure reviews, safe-state verification, and stop-work decision points for high-risk, complex, or non-standard work.
- Lead technical execution for installations, evaluations, upgrades, conversions, qualifications, productivity programs, and sustaining recovery efforts, including OIM/microschedule content, dependencies, risks, hold points, and recovery paths.
What you'll do, cont'd
- Drive technical recovery for critical down tools, recurring failures, machine availability gaps, MDWP events, and product-performance issues within the assigned scope.
- Analyze tool history, logs, symptoms, parts usage, MA/SUDT events, and Pareto data to identify dominant failure modes, improvement opportunities, and sustainable prevention plans.
- Drive cross-functional actions with Product Group, RPS/GPS, spares, quality, account teams, service management, and customer technical stakeholders.
- Prepare concise, accurate technical reports, escalation packages, AARs, Pareto summaries, installation updates, executive summaries, and decision requests that clearly distinguish verified facts, hypotheses, assumptions, risks, and decisions.
- Present tool status, technical conclusions, risk, recovery path, progress, and leadership asks to customers, service management, Product Group, and internal executive forums.
- Maintain continuity across shifts and functions through disciplined status updates, documentation, action integration, and formal handoff until success criteria are met or ownership is formally transferred.
- Train and mentor new hires and developing FSEs through OJT, certification support, troubleshooting reviews, procedure discipline, and structured knowledge transfer.
- Provide hands-on technical leadership primarily during core business hours to align with customer, engineering, spares, quality, and management decision cycles; support business-critical off-shift escalation, planned execution, or recovery needs in accordance with site coverage plans, working-hour requirements, and company policy.
Who we’re looking for
Minimum Qualifications:
- FSE4: Bachelor’s degree in Electronics, Engineering, or a related technical field with 7 years of relevant semiconductor equipment service, installation, escalation, or product-support experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- FSE5: Bachelor’s degree in Electronics, Engineering, or a related technical field with 10 years of relevant semiconductor equipment experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience, plus demonstrated technical-manager-level leadership and product-line impact.
- Demonstrated success as an EIC, technical lead, escalation owner, installation lead, project owner, or equivalent leader for complex semiconductor capital equipment.
- Demonstrated ability to create structured problem-solving models, test plans, technical recovery strategies, risk assessments, customer-ready reports, and defensible troubleshooting models using schematics, logs, tool data, procedures, parts history, process symptoms, and failure signatures.
- Ability to influence cross-functional teams and communicate effectively with technicians, engineers, managers, customers, and executives.
- Willing to work in a clean room environment while wearing personal protective safety equipment, or cleanroom suit.
- Frequently position oneself (e.g., bend, stoop, reach, walk, sit, twist, squat, kneel, climb, stand) to perform job tasks for extended periods.
- Willing to travel frequently, domestically and internationally, based on customer needs, flexibility to work a variety shifts including compressed and alternative workweeks including overtime and on-call if needed.
Preferred qualifications
- Deep product, subsystem, fleet, and customer-site knowledge with ability to translate technical detail into customer impact, business risk, recovery options, committed timing, and clear leadership asks.
- Recognized expertise in MBPS, escalation management, installation execution, machine availability, complex recovery leadership, or installed base performance improvement.
- Excellent technical writing, data analysis, presentation, executive communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
- Experience developing FSEs, leading OJT, supporting certification, establishing repeatable troubleshooting methods, and raising overall team technical capability.
Our commitment
We believe it is important for every person to feel valued, included, and empowered to achieve their full potential. By bringing unique individuals and viewpoints together, we achieve extraordinary results.
Lam Research ("Lam" or the "Company") is an equal opportunity employer. Lam is committed to and reaffirms support of equal opportunity in employment and non-discrimination in employment policies, practices and procedures on the basis of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions), gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or military and veteran status or any other category protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. It is the Company's intention to comply with all applicable laws and regulations. Company policy prohibits unlawful discrimination against applicants or employees.
Lam offers a variety of work location models based on the needs of each role. Our hybrid roles combine the benefits of on-site collaboration with colleagues and the flexibility to work remotely and fall into two categories – On-site Flex and Virtual Flex. ‘On-site Flex’ you’ll work 3 days per week on-site at a Lam or customer/supplier location, with the opportunity to work remotely for the balance of the week. ‘Virtual Flex’ you’ll work 1-2 days per week on-site at a Lam or customer/supplier location, and remotely the rest of the time.
Our Perks and Benefits
At Lam, our people make amazing things possible. That’s why we invest in you throughout the phases of your life with a comprehensive set of outstanding benefits.
Benefits:
Health Insurance, Vacation & Paid Time Off, 401K Plan