Applications Engineer

Elevate Semiconductor; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 85,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

ElevATE Semiconductor designs low-power, high-density ICs for Automated Test Equipment (ATE). Applications Engineering sits between customers and Design, Product and Quality engineers, delivering guides, EVMs, and end-to-end debugging support.

We seek an early-career engineer with bench experience to work alongside senior engineers, perform measurements, support testing, and handle customer issues while building product knowledge.

Qualifications

• Bench experience with real hardware and measurement tools.
• Curiosity to investigate root causes beyond surface issues.
• Ability to clearly communicate complex problems and actions.

Responsibilities

• Generate technical documentation for ElevATE products (datasheets, guides, app notes).
• Assist with customer and system-level debugging: define, reproduce, and drive root cause.
• Perform bench testing and analysis to support inquiries and troubleshooting.
• Reproduce customer observations and provide technical guidance on ElevATE parts.
• Build, bring up, and maintain EVMs and lab setups.
• Draft reports detailing findings and reproduce issues for internal teams.
• Learn schematic review and system troubleshooting on real customer designs.

Skills

Bench intuition

Curiosity

Clear communication

Ownership

Education

BS in Electrical Engineering or related field

Tools

Oscilloscopes

SMUs

Altium

LTspice/PSpice

Python

Job description

ElevATE Semiconductor designs low-power, high-density ICs for Automated Test Equipment (ATE), including integrated pin electronics. Our products sit inside the testers that test everyone else's chips, so our customers are some of the most demanding engineers in the industry.

Applications Engineering is a role that sits between those customers and our Design, Product and Quality engineers. We write the guides customers rely on, build the EVMs and software they evaluate with, and drive the end to end technical debug when something in their system doesn't work. A typical week includes time at the bench, and time explaining what we find to someone who needs to act on it.

What we look for at every level:

• Bench instinct. You've debugged real hardware with a scope, supplies and an SMU, and you trust measurements over assumptions.
• Curiosity. When a result looks wrong you want to know why, not just make it go away.
• Clear Communication. You can turn a complex problem into a clear investigation someone else can act on.
• Ownership. On a small team, the problem you pick up is yours until it's closed or handed off cleanly.

About this role

We want someone early in their career who already likes being in the lab and wants to get very good at it. You'll start with bench measurements, EVM support and documentation, working alongside senior engineers, and take on customer issues as you build product knowledge.

Responsibilities

• Generation of technical documentation for Elevate products including datasheets, product guides, application notes and other material to support integration of these devices into customer systems.
• Support customer and system-level debug: define the problem, reproduce it in the lab and drive root cause with Design, Product and Quality Engineering and close the loop with the customer.
• Perform bench testing and analysis to support customer inquiries and troubleshooting issues.
• Reproduce customer observations and provide technical guidance on how to use Elevate parts.
• Build, bring up and maintain EVMs and lab setups.
• Help answer customer and internal questions: collect the details, reproduce the issue and drafting reports on what you find.
• Learn schematic review and system troubleshooting on real customer designs, with mentoring.
• Take ownership of smaller support issues and documentation tasks as you grow.
• Support failure, quality, and reliability analysis in conjunction with the operations team.
• Support sales activitiesby assisting with product recommendations for new customer designsand on-site customer visits to promote Elevate IC products.

• BS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field (or graduating soon)
• 0-2 years professional experience in applications, test, product or systems engineering on semiconductor products.
• Extensive experience with bench equipment: scopes, SMUs, supplies, AWGs from an internship, co-op, research or a serious personal or senior-design project.
• Experience with analog and mixed-signal circuits.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Semiconductor Test, ATE, measurement equipment or high-performance instrumentation
• Experienced in Analog, Mixed Signal Design or Transistor Level Debug
• Exposure to PCB design review and bring up or using tools such as Altium or Allegro
• Familiarity with SPICE simulation tools such as LTspice, PSpice
• Experience using programming languages or tools for test automation and data analysis such as python, C, JMP, Excel

The anticipated annual base salary range for this position is$85,000.00 to $100,000.00. Actual compensation will be determined based on factors such as experience, skills, qualifications, education, location, and business needs.

In addition to base salary, employees may be eligible for incentive compensation and a comprehensive benefits package. This salary range represents the Company's good‑faith estimate of the compensation it reasonably expects to pay for this position at the time of posting.