Applications Engineering Manager

CIRCUIT CHECK INC • Maple Grove, MN

4d • $110,000 - $150,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Application Engineering Manager leads our global Application Engineering team and owns the end-to-end quoting process and toolset. This is a player-coach role that combines people leadership, technical depth, strategic thinking, and cross-functional partnership with Sales, Operations, and the Technology and Solutions Group (TSG). You will ensure the team consistently delivers high-quality, accurate quotes while continuously improving speed, accuracy, and win rate through better people and better tools.

Requirements

• BS/MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent
• 8+ years of experience in applications engineering, systems engineering, or solutions architecture for capital equipment, automated test systems, semiconductor ATE, or similar complex configured products
• 3+ years of people management experience with a proven ability to grow junior engineers into senior contributors
• Hands-on experience building or significantly improving complex quoting/BOM/configurator tools (Excel + VBA at minimum; Python, web apps, CPQ systems strongly preferred)
• Demonstrated success partnering with Sales on deal strategy and opportunity qualification
• Strong business acumen — you understand gross margin, competitive positioning, and risk in custom solution deals.
• Experience integrating acquired companies’ technologies into existing quoting and engineering workflows
• Experience with formal product management or product ownership of internal tools
• Background in semiconductor test, PCB assembly test, EV battery test, or similar industries
• Player-coach mentality — you still love diving into the toughest quotes yourself
• Exceptional communicator who can translate between customers, salespeople, and engineers
• Agent for continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing team of Application Engineers (junior through senior/principal levels)
• Recruit top talent, set clear expectations, provide regular coaching and career development
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, ownership, and customer satisfaction
• Develop the next generation of application engineering leadership, building a strong bench of future CCI leaders including succession plan.
• Partner closely with Operations and Sales Management to qualify opportunities early and allocate AE resources effectively for the highest probability of winning profitable deals
• Prioritize incoming RFQs and manage team workload/backlog to meet aggressive customer timelines
• Ensure proper use of Salesforce in the sales tracking function to ensure cross-company collaboration.
• Act as product owner for the internal quoting platforms
• Maintain current tools, fix bugs, and ensure 100% uptime for the team
• Lead the development of the next-generation unified quoting system that consolidates today’s fragmented tools
• Drive integration of new technologies and capabilities from acquired companies into the quoting workflow
• Continuously improve the toolset by adopting AI/ML (e.g., Glue or similar), automation, and modern software practices to reduce quote cycle time and errors.
• Identify, evaluate, and deploy new tools (AI-assisted design, configurators, CPQ enhancements, etc.) that dramatically improve AE productivity and quote quality
• Establish and track key metrics (quote cycle time, quote accuracy, win rate, margin achievement).
• Collaborate with Operations to ensure quoted solutions are realistically manufacturable, testable, and deliverable on the committed schedule and cost
• Work with Product Management to feed customer requirements and technology gaps back into the roadmap
• Act as the primary technical escalation point for the most complex or strategic opportunities.

Benefits

• medical, dental, vision, basic life, short- and long-term disability and accidental death and dismemberment insurance
• 401k plan, in which the Company will match 50% of your contributions up to 6% with a maximum contribution
• Paid time off includes vacation and sick time along with nine paid holidays.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level