Director, Applications Engineering

CesiumAstro•El Segundo, CA

15h

About The Position

CesiumAstro is seeking a Director, Applications Engineering to lead the customer-facing technical organization responsible for helping customers understand, integrate, operate, and deploy the company’s products and solutions. The Director will lead Applications Engineers who serve as product experts and act as a key interface among customers, Product, Engineering, Business Development, and program execution. The role owns the Voice of the Customer within the product organization, translating customer needs, integration challenges, operational experience, and feedback into product requirements, roadmap priorities, documentation, tools, and improvements. The Applications Engineering organization supports customers throughout the product lifecycle, from early evaluation and pursuits through integration, test, deployment, and on-orbit or operational support, with a focus on making complex communication products easier to adopt, integrate, and operate successfully.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical field with 11–15 years of related experience; or a master's degree in a related field with 9–12 years of related experience; or a PhD in a related field with 7–10 years of related experience.
Related experience in applications engineering, systems engineering, product engineering, customer integration, technical support, or a related engineering discipline.
At least 5 years of leadership or management experience leading applications engineering, systems engineering, product engineering, or related technical professionals and managers.
Extensive experience directing customer integration and deployment activities involving complex hardware and software systems.
Expertise resolving significant system integration, product performance, and technical challenges through direct customer engagement and cross-functional engineering coordination.
Demonstrated experience translating customer requirements, operational feedback, and field experience into product requirements, technical documentation, application tools, and product improvements.
Must meet the stated U.S. Government Space Technology Export Regulations eligibility requirements: be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, conditional resident, asylee, or refugee (protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)), or be eligible to obtain the required U.S. Department of State authorizations.

Responsibilities

Build, develop, and lead a high-performing customer-facing technical team with deep expertise in the company’s communication products, applications, interfaces, and operation.
Establish Applications Engineering as the primary technical interface for customers integrating and deploying standard and configurable products.
Ensure customers receive the technical guidance, documentation, tools, training, and support needed to integrate, test, commission, and operate products.
Capture customer needs, integration challenges, product feedback, and operational experience, translating them into actionable input for Product and Engineering.
Partner with Product leadership to identify recurring customer needs, usability gaps, integration challenges, and new applications that should influence product capabilities and investment priorities.
Ensure the Applications Engineering team maintains detailed knowledge of product hardware, software, interfaces, performance, configuration, and operational behavior through engagement with product development teams and hands-on laboratory experience.
Partner with Communication Systems Architects, Business Development, and Product teams to apply existing and planned products to customer needs, develop configurations, answer technical questions, and support proposals and demonstrations.
Establish the approach for supporting customers through integration, test, commissioning, and operation, including rapid diagnosis and resolution of customer-reported anomalies.
Own the strategy and quality of customer-facing technical content, including user manuals, application notes, integration guides, reference architectures, examples, training material, and other product-adoption resources.
Identify recurring customer integration patterns and develop reference architectures, tools, procedures, and standard solutions that reduce engineering effort and simplify deployment across customers and missions.
Establish mechanisms for escalating product issues, communicating customer priorities, supporting root-cause resolution, and applying lessons from customer deployments to future product releases.
Work across Conceptual Design, Product Development & Assurance, Product Management, Engineering, Business Development, and execution teams to maintain continuity from customer need through solution development, product selection, program execution, integration, and operation.
Develop a team that combines technical depth with customer engagement, systems thinking, troubleshooting, and clear technical communication.