Senior Field Applications Engineer

Sr Field Applications Engineer

As a Senior Field Applications Engineer, this role serves as an internal bridge between Business Development/Product Management and Engineering. It involves being a technical lead and the main point of contact for automotive and industrial customers. Ideally, this position requires an excellent technical understanding of lidar products (or similar sensing modalities) and their applications in various customer scenarios. Flexibility and the ability to manage multiple priorities and tasks are essential. Typical responsibilities include pre- and post-sales customer support, leading customer engagement, gathering requirements, executing product demos, working with the AEye engineering team, collaborating and deploying solutions, and conducting customer presentations and demos.

Tasks, Duties & Responsibilities:

• Leading critical customer engagement in lidar deployment
• Familiarity with perception applications and working with lidar point clouds
• Supporting customer development and PoC projects with key customers
• Project Management of deployment activities, including up to 20-30% travel
• Technical support for existing and potential non-auto customers
• Hands-on troubleshooting of lidars and complimentary hardware and software 
• Processing and following up on RMA and returns
• Reporting lidar issues to engineering and collaborating as a team to resolve them
• Be the voice of the customer (VOC) in providing feedback and solutions

Essential Skills & Experience Requirements (required):

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related technical field with 5+ years of relevant experience
• Hands-on experience with lidar or comparable sensing modalities, including field deployment and debugging
• Experience working with external partners and customers
• Proficiency in Python for data analysis, automation, and debugging scripts
• Proficiency in C++, including the ability to read, debug, and modify production code
• Comfortable working in Linux environments, including shell, networking basics, and log analysis
• Experience troubleshooting sensor systems end to end, from hardware signals through software output
• Familiarity with point cloud data, including inspection, validation, and common failure modes
• Structured problem solving skills, including defect analysis, root cause investigation, and identification of performance gaps and system-level issues
• Ability to write clear, actionable problem statements and defect reports that engineering can act on without rework
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, including presenting to technical and non-technical audiences
• Ability to produce clear technical documentation, root cause analyses, and structured reports
• Global travel as required
• Valid California Driver’s License to drive Company automobiles
• Ability to lift or carry items up to 50lbs

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Experience with sensor fusion, time synchronization, and perception applications
• Experience in automotive or industrial markets
• Familiarity with ROS or ROS2
• Experience with automated test scripts and CI pipelines
• Experience with IT, networks, and embedded platforms

Position is onsite a minimum of 3 days at our Pleasanton, CA Office

Base Annual Salary Range: $120K-155K