FAE - Principal Field Applications Engineer (Customer Facing/Design-Win Focused)

FHLB Des Moines; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Microchip Technology Inc. is seeking a Principal-level Field Applications Engineer to own embedded solutions from concept to production. You will be the technical lead interfacing with customers, shaping architectures and driving design wins across hardware and software domains.

Ideal candidates have 10+ years of embedded design and customer-facing experience, with C/C++, RTOS, and firmware update expertise. Travel up to 25% and leadership capabilities are a plus.

Qualifications

• Ten+ years in a customer-facing technical role (e.g., FAE, Sales Engineer, Embedded Systems Consultant).
• Ten+ years hands-on embedded design experience with C/C++, MCs, RTOS, and firmware updates.

Responsibilities

• Own relationships from initial engagement through product launch.
• Identify design-win opportunities from customer roadmaps and pain points.
• Translate requirements into embedded system architectures; present to customer teams.
• Architect end-to-end embedded solutions (hardware, firmware, tools).
• Develop production-level firmware in C/C++ for MCU-based systems; implement RTOS, bootloaders, and drivers.
• Lead technical strategy with sales to drive design wins and revenue.
• Provide root-cause analysis, bug fixes, and feature enhancements post-design.

Skills

Customer-Facing Experience

Embedded Technical Expertise

Soft Skills & Mindset

Leadership & Ownership

Tools

Git-based workflows

Oscilloscopes

Logic Analyzers

Debuggers

Job description

Are you looking for a unique opportunity to be a part of something great? Want to join a 17,000-member team that works on the technology that powers the world around us? Looking for an atmosphere of trust, empowerment, respect, diversity, and communication? How about an opportunity to own a piece of a multi-billion dollar (with a B!) global organization? We offer all that and more at Microchip Technology Inc. People come to work at Microchip because we help design the technology that runs the world. They stay because our culture supports their growth and stability. They are challenged and driven by an incredible array of products and solutions with unlimited career potential. Microchip’s nationally-recognized Leadership Passage Programs support career growth where we proudly enroll over a thousand people annually. We take pride in our commitment to employee development, values-based decision making, and strong sense of community, driven by our Vision, Mission, and 11 Guiding Values; we affectionately refer to it as the Aggregate System and it’s won us countless awards for diversity and workplace excellence. Our company is built by dedicated team players who love to challenge the status quo; we did not achieve record revenue and over 30 years of quarterly profitability without a great team dedicated to empowering innovation. People like you.

Job Description

We are seeking a Principal-level Field Applications Engineer with a rare combination of deep embedded design expertise and extensive customer‑facing experience. This role is ideal for someone who has spent 10+ years working directly with customers in a technical capacity—whether in sales engineering, field applications engineering, customer solutions, or technical consulting—and who thrives on owning an embedded solution from first customer conversation through production and long‑term support. This is not a pure development role and not a pure sales role. You will act as a technical lead, architect, and trusted advisor, helping customers define requirements, win internal buy‑in, and successfully deliver production‑grade embedded software.

Key Responsibilities

Act as a primary technical interface to customers, owning relationships from initial engagement through product launch. Proactively identify new opportunities for design wins by understanding customer roadmaps, pain points, and business drivers. Translate customer requirements into complete embedded system architectures. Present and iterate on technical solutions with customer engineering and management teams. Partner closely with sales to drive design wins to revenue, while independently leading the technical strategy. Architect end‑to‑end embedded solutions, including hardware, firmware, and supporting tools. Design production‑level hardware (schematic design, component selection, design for manufacturability). Develop production‑level embedded firmware applications in C/C++ for microcontroller‑based systems. Implement RTOS‑based designs, bootloaders, firmware update mechanisms, and peripheral drivers. Adapt and extend reference designs to meet customer‑specific requirements. Implementation, Debug & Support. Own the technical success of customer projects through: system bring‑up and debugging. Root‑cause analysis of hardware and firmware issues. Bug fixes and feature enhancements throughout the product lifecycle. Support customers post‑design‑win with: production readiness. Sustaining engineering. Feature expansion and roadmap alignment.

Required Experience & Skills

Customer‑Facing Experience (Critical) 10+ years in a customer‑facing technical role, such as: Field Applications Engineer, Sales Engineer, Customer Solutions Engineer, Embedded Systems Consultant. Proven ability to: communicate complex technical concepts clearly to diverse audiences. Build credibility and trust with customer engineering teams. Balance multiple customer engagements simultaneously. Embedded Technical Expertise 10+ years of hands‑on embedded system design experience. Strong experience with: Embedded C/C++, Microcontrollers and system architecture, RTOS‑based firmware development, Serial interfaces (I2C, SPI, UART, USB etc.), Firmware update and bootloader design, Git‑based workflows. Hardware design experience including: schematic capture, component selection, board bring‑up and debugging. Proficiency with lab tools (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, debuggers). Soft Skills & Mindset: comfortable operating in ambiguity and defining solutions from incomplete requirements. Strong sense of ownership and accountability. Self‑directed, proactive, and comfortable working with minimal supervision. Enjoys both technical depth and customer interaction. Able to prioritize across multiple opportunities while maintaining technical excellence. Able to act as a team leader with help drive large designs.

Nice‑to‑Have (Differentiators)

CI/CD for embedded firmware. Experience with embedded Linux. Secure boot and secure firmware update. Networking (wired or wireless). Python for automation or tooling. Experience supporting products through volume production.

Travel Time

Travel Time: 0% - 25%

Physical Attributes

Physical Attributes: Hearing, Seeing, Talking, Works Alone, Works Around Others

Physical Requirements

Physical Requirements: 90% Sitting, 10% Standing/Walking

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action

Microchip Technology Inc is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law. For more information on applicable equal employment regulations, please refer to the Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal Poster.

Company Culture

At Microchip, employees are our greatest strength. As one of the top performing semiconductor companies in the world, we are led by a set of guiding values and a mission to empower innovation to enhance the human experience. We work tirelessly to create a company culture that highlights how important every employee is to our mission.