Senior Staff Applications Engineer

Elevate Semiconductor; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

ElevATE Semiconductor in San Diego is seeking an experienced Applications Engineer to bridge customers with our Design, Product and Quality teams. You will write guides, build evaluation boards, and drive end-to-end technical debug when issues arise in customer systems.

A mix of bench work and technical communication is expected. You will lead investigations, generate datasheets and guides for ElevATE products, and work across engineering to move solutions from concept to production, ensuring

Qualifications

• BS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• 10+ years of professional experience in applications, test, product or systems engineering on semiconductor products.
• Experience with bench equipment: scopes, SMUs, supplies, AWGs, probing techniques.
• Strong analog and mixed-signal circuit understanding, down to transistor-level behavior.
• Ability to lead ambiguous multi-variable engineering investigations to a defensible conclusion.
• Clear communication of technical findings to engineers and managers.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex customer and system-level investigations: define problem, reproduce in lab, drive root cause and verify with customers.
• Create technical documentation for Elevate products: datasheets, guides, application notes.
• Interface with internal teams to bring new products from concept to production release.
• Perform bench testing and analysis to support customer inquiries and troubleshoot issues.
• Assist with product recommendations for new designs and on-site customer visits.

Skills

Bench testing

Root cause analysis

Clear communication

Ownership

Education

BS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field

Tools

Scopes & SMUs

AWGs

Probing techniques

Altium/Allegro exposure

LTspice / PSpice

Python / data analysis

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

This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who knows how to solve a technical problem with no obvious cause. You'll hold deep product and ATE knowledge for the team, lead challenging customer escalations, and have opportunities to collaborate cross functionally to drive the solutions.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex customer and system-level investigations: 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.
• 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.
• Interface with internal engineering teams to help bring new products from initial concept through production release.
• 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.
• Analyze competitive landscape and identify differentiation for Elevate IC products.
• Support failure, quality, and reliability analysis in conjunction with the operations team.
• Coordinate with the sales team through the entire sales process by assisting with product recommendations for new customer designs and on-site customer visits to promote Elevate IC products.

• BS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field
• 10+ years professional experience in applications, test, product or systems engineering on semiconductor products.
• Extensive experience with bench equipment: scopes, SMUs, supplies, AWGs, probing technique, and knowing when the setup is the problem. You should be able to walk us through a problem you found and fixed at the bench.
• Strong analog and mixed-signal circuit understanding, down to transistor-level behavior when debug requires it.
• A track record of leading ambiguous, multi-variable engineering investigations to a defensible conclusion.
• Clear communication and the ability to explain technical findings to both an engineer and a manager.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Semiconductor Test, ATE, measurement equipment or high-performance instrumentation
• Experienced in Analog, Mixed Signal Design or Transistor Level Debug
• Experience across the silicon lifecycle, from validation, characterization, and design verification through quality and mass production ramp
• 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 $150,000.00 to $180,000.00. 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.