Application Engineer

Vital Chemicals USA LLC•Cupertino, CA

7d•Onsite

About The Position

Join our high-speed optical transceiver business to help hyperscale customers evaluate, test, and deploy our products for AI data center applications. You’ll be the technical front line—working closely with Sales and the Product Director to diagnose issues, run/coordinate interoperability testing, translate customer requirements into actionable engineering feedback, and ensure successful evaluation-to-pilot-to-deployment outcomes.

Requirements

5–10 years of experience in optical networking, data center optics, high-speed links, transceivers, or related test/validation/field application engineering.
Strong understanding of high-speed optics/transceiver systems and standards, including concepts such as link budgets, BER, signal integrity, and optical/electrical performance metrics.
Hands-on experience with lab equipment and testing workflows relevant to transceiver evaluation.
Ability to write clear technical documentation and communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Comfort working in cross-functional settings with Sales and product/engineering teams.

Nice To Haves

PhD (EE/Photonics/Optical Engineering or equivalent).
Experience specifically with pluggable optics and/or coherent and/or PAM4-based transceiver ecosystems.
Experience with interoperability testing processes and working with hyperscale evaluation/qualification workflows.
Familiarity with common test/measurement tooling for optical/electrical link characterization.
Experience troubleshooting production issues and driving root-cause analysis with engineering teams.

Responsibilities

Establish and maintain suitable evaluation and test capabilities in Bay Area office to support product evaluation and customer demonstrations
Support customer optical transceiver evaluations with hands-on technical assistance (bring-up, configuration, verification, and troubleshooting).
Plan and execute interoperability and acceptance test activities (as defined by customer and internal test plans).
Coordinate lab work and testing logistics with internal engineering teams (hardware/firmware/systems/test).
Analyze and debug link performance issues (e.g., BER/eye/constellation, signal integrity, thermal/power behavior, error patterns).
Prepare technical documentation for customers and internal teams: test reports, procedures, troubleshooting notes, and results summaries.
Support pre-sales and post-sales technical engagements alongside Sales (technical demos, technical Q&A, evaluation support).
Act as a technical translator between customer needs and product/engineering: capture requirements, document gaps, propose mitigations.
Support RF/optical/DSP configuration guidance (where applicable) and ensure customer setup aligns with product operating conditions.
Contribute to continuous improvement of evaluation/test processes and customer success playbooks.
Participate in customer escalations when deeper technical root-cause work is required.