Lead Software Architect (m/w/x)

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Your Role

As part of the Systems Engineering Team in the Semiconductor Fab Solutions division of Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH, you will work in an interdisciplinary environment from systems engineering to product development. In this role, you will lead the Software Architecture activities for the development of an X-ray-based 3D semiconductor inspection and metrology tool.

Your main focus areas are:

• Take technical ownership of the overall software architecture for a novel X-Ray based 3D inspection and metrology system for semiconductor wafers.

• Define and evolve a modular, scalable, and maintainable software architecture, covering system control, data acquisition, data processing, user interface, and integration into fab environments.

• Closely collaborate with the Lead Systems Engineer to enable efficient hardware-software co-development, aligning system architecture, control concepts, and data flows across all layers

• Translate system and customer requirements into software requirements, components, and interfaces, and ensure their traceability throughout the development lifecycle in close collaboration with product management and product architects.

• Define and maintain software interface specifications (internal and external), communication protocols, and data models.

• Guide the selection and use of technologies, frameworks, and development tools in alignment with ZEISS standards and long-term product strategy.

• Drive and coordinate software design reviews, code quality measures, and architectural governance together with development teams.

• Define and support the implementation of software integration, testing, and deployment strategies, including automated testing and continuous integration/continuous delivery concepts where applicable.

• Collaborate closely with product management, system engineering, and other disciplines to balance performance, robustness, usability, cybersecurity, and maintainability.

• Assess and mitigate software-related technical risks, support effort estimations, and manage architectural change requests.

• Act as the technical contact person for software architecture within the project, representing software in reviews, design boards, and customer or partner discussions.

• Foster a culture of technical excellence, clean architecture, and continuous improvement within the software development teams.

• Degree in computer science, software engineering, electrical engineering, physics, or a comparable field, and several years of professional experience in software development; PhD is a plus.

• Several years of experience in software architecture and design for complex systems or machines in industrial metrology, automation, or related high-tech domains; experience in the semiconductor environment is an advantage.

• Profound knowledge in designing modular, distributed, and high-reliability software systems, including interface and API design.

• Practical experience with modern programming languages and technologies relevant for machine control and data processing (e.g. + +, #, ℎ , or comparable), as well as common software engineering practices (version control, CI/CD, testing).

• Experience in hardware–software co-development, ideally in close collaboration with system engineering, electronics, and controls.

• Strong analytical thinking, systematic working methods, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to make well-founded architectural decisions under constraints.

• Ability to collaborate and communicate effectively with interdisciplinary stakeholders.

• Experience with software development processes and methods (e.g. agile development, V-model, or hybrid approaches) and corresponding toolchains.

• Willingness to work in a highly dynamic work environment and to actively shape change.

• Very good English skills

• Willingness to travel

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