Senior Director, Customer Applications Engineering

Rippling, Inc.; United States; Remote; USD 204,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

VulcanForms is seeking a Director, Customer Applications Engineering to lead the technical function that maps customer requirements to manufacturing capabilities. You will build and coach an Applications Engineering team, own inbound qualification, and partner with Commercial leadership on proposals and strategic pursuits.

This role blends deep technical leadership with customer-facing responsibilities in a rapidly growing advanced manufacturing environment.

Qualifications

• 12+ years in applications engineering, sales engineering, or technical product roles in manufacturing.
• 3+ years leading technical customer-facing teams.
• 6+ years in additive manufacturing part engineering.
• Track record of building or scaling a technical sales function.
• Able to assess feasibility quickly and explain constraints to diverse audiences.
• Player/coach mindset with pursuit ownership.
• Experience with product or manufacturing cost structures and pricing input.
• Strong written communication and documentation standards.

Responsibilities

• Build, hire, and develop an Applications Engineering team, moving to vertical specialization as portfolio matures.
• Set team standards for feasibility assessment, concept design, and requirements documentation, and track metrics.
• Own the technical qualification process of inbound opportunities, filtering out poor-fit parts and programs.
• Produce or oversee first-cut design concepts and feasibility assessments with risks and tradeoffs.
• Design and execute a process to capture no-go part data and technical capability requirements.
• Serve as the senior technical partner to Commercial leadership on proposals and strategic pursuits.
• Ensure customer requirements are captured and turned into actionable documentation for NPI and BU teams.

Skills

Applications engineering

Sales engineering

Team leadership

Additive manufacturing

Technical feasibility

Pricing input

Technical communication

Customer relationship

Proposal development

Cross-functional collaboration

Cost structures

Documentation standards

Job description

VulcanForms is seeking a Director, Customer Applications Engineering to lead the technical function that maps customer requirements to manufacturing capabilities. You will build and coach an Applications Engineering team, own inbound qualification, and partner with Commercial leadership on proposals and strategic pursuits.

This role blends deep technical leadership with customer-facing responsibilities in a rapidly growing advanced manufacturing environment.