Field Application Engineer - Salt Lake City, UT
About The Position
Ambient is hiring a mid-level Field Application Engineer (FAE) to bridge Customer Support, Community Support, and Engineering. The role investigates unclear field problems, gathers evidence to identify root causes or next experiments, resolves issues where possible, and provides Engineering with clear, actionable handoffs. It involves working with live hubs and fleet behavior, applying Z-Wave JS and related documentation, and making small, time-boxed software changes on hub services for trials, such as adding logging or testing routes and configurations. The position is focused on complex technical investigations and escalations rather than routine Tier 1/2 support or sales demonstrations. It supports product engineering through troubleshooting, testing, and technical findings, but does not own product requirements, long-term platform roadmaps, or the Engineering team's ongoing development backlog. The role is hybrid, with a minimum of two days per week in the Salt Lake City headquarters, and may include occasional on-site or installation-adjacent debugging and travel.
Requirements
- At least 3 years of experience in FAE, technical support engineering, embedded/IoT field engineering, or similar customer-and-device work.
- Strong Linux troubleshooting skills, including SSH, logs, and networking basics; system and container experience is a plus.
- Ability to read unfamiliar code and make small, safe changes; TypeScript/Node and/or Python are preferred.
- Comfort working with incomplete information by asking appropriate questions, instrumenting systems, and iterating.
- Clear written communication for Support, Engineering, and occasional customer-facing notes.
- Basic familiarity with Git and pull request workflows.
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
Nice To Haves
- Z-Wave, Zigbee, or other mesh/IoT radio experience; familiarity with Z-Wave JS.
- Experience with Balena, Docker, MQTT, or AWS IoT/device certificates.
- Prior experience bridging Support and Engineering, such as managing escalation queues or FAE tickets.
- MDU, proptech, or multi-unit deployment experience.
Responsibilities
- Triage and deeply investigate unclear escalations from Support and Community Support by reproducing issues, isolating causes, and documenting root causes or next experiments.
- Investigate live hub and fleet behavior, including Balena device health, container logs, cellular and MQTT paths, Z-Wave mesh behavior, and AWS IoT or device certificate issues.
- Read and apply Z-Wave JS and related documentation, translating protocol and device quirks into practical guidance for Support and Engineering.
- Make quick, trial-oriented changes to hub services, such as temporary logging, feature flags, test routes, custom device operations or timing, and diagnostics, with clear rollback plans and notes for Engineering.
- Prepare durable handoffs containing reproduction steps, logs, timelines, impact, and a recommended fix path, such as configuration, firmware, cloud, or installation changes.
- Feed recurring patterns into runbooks, the FAE escalation flow, and product bugs.
- Work as a member of the Engineering team, partnering with software developers to establish good practices and support engineering efforts.
- Partner with engineers on difficult cases and escalate with a complete evidence package when appropriate.
- Perform occasional on-site or installation-adjacent debugging when the hybrid schedule and travel allow.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
