Product Application Engineer

Cubic•Durham, NC

About The Position

The Product Application Engineer (PAE) applies engineering principles, Nuvotronics product knowledge, and application experience to support customers in designing in, integrating, and using Nuvotronics products. The PAE is an internal user of PolyStrata products, developing evaluation boards, product demonstrations, and production-representative reference designs that demonstrate sound PCBA, RF/mmWave, and component-to-system integration practices. The role is also a technical bridge between customers and Nuvotronics. The PAE supports technical discussions throughout the sales process, helps customers integrate products into PCBAs and RF subsystems, maintains customer engineering relationships, and coordinates customer-related technical activities with internal engineering disciplines. The position collects and documents customer technical requirements and application needs, contributes to product strategy and design-in objectives, and helps resolve complex technical issues while meeting time-driven deliverables. The position is suited to an engineer with experience in Defense, SATCOM, Test & Measurement, Mobile Infrastructure, or mmWave applications, and practical experience designing and bringing up RF PCBAs and integrating RF components into larger assemblies. The stated pay range is $115,000–$133,000, plus benefits; compensation is not guaranteed and may depend on factors including responsibilities, education, experience, skills, internal equity, and market data.

Requirements

BSEE or a related engineering degree.
At least 3 years of RF, microwave, mmWave, or RF PCBA design and integration experience.
Ability to obtain a DOD Security Clearance.
Demonstrated experience with schematic capture and PCB layout review for RF/microwave hardware.
Working knowledge of multilayer PCB stack-ups, controlled impedance, RF materials, grounding, power integrity, thermal design, DFM/DFA/DFT, fabrication tolerances, and assembly processes.
Hands-on experience bringing up and troubleshooting RF PCBAs using equipment such as vector network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, power meters, oscilloscopes, and related fixtures.
Excellent communication, negotiation, and presentation skills.
Ability to travel as required, approximately 10–30%.
Ability to prioritize work, complete multiple tasks, and work under deadlines.

Nice To Haves

MSEE.
Experience with microwave circuit-modeling tools such as MWO or ADS and full-wave electromagnetic simulation tools such as HFSS or CST; ability to correlate simulations with board-level measurements.
Experience in the Defense, SATCOM, or RF Products industry.
Experience in business development or sales to an engineering community.
Experience developing technical hardware specifications through a consultative process with customers.
Experience producing complete, reusable reference-design documentation and communicating design rules, implementation tradeoffs, measured performance, and integration limits to customers.
Experience with analytical and automation tools such as MATLAB, Python, or JMP for data analysis, visualization, and test-result processing.
Experience in Defense, SATCOM, Test & Measurement, Mobile Infrastructure, or mmWave applications.
Practical experience designing and bringing up RF PCBAs, integrating RF components into larger assemblies, and translating product guidance into clear, validated reference designs for customers.

Responsibilities

Identify new and expanded business opportunities within a market or region.
Develop, document, validate, and maintain evaluation boards, customer-ready reference designs, and product demonstrations to accelerate successful design-in.
Apply and communicate PCBA design principles, including stack-up definition, controlled-impedance routing, grounding and return-current management, power integrity, decoupling, thermal management, design for manufacturability, assembly, and test.
Own RF PCBA implementation and integration activities, including transmission-line design, transitions and launches, connector and interconnect selection, placement and routing, shielding and isolation, bias networks, calibration and de-embedding structures, and mitigation of coupling, loss, and parasitic effects.
Create reusable reference-design packages containing schematics, layouts, bills of materials, design notes, simulation assumptions, fabrication and assembly guidance, test procedures, measured results, and known limitations.
Plan and execute board bring-up and RF validation using appropriate laboratory equipment; compare measured performance with simulation and product data, and drive corrective actions when results do not align.
Develop, implement, and support customer technical design-in engagement strategies.
Support customers using Nuvotronics products, working with customer engineering, PCB layout, manufacturing, and assembly teams to resolve integration and bring-up questions.
Monitor and analyze technical activity against goals.
Develop and maintain customer contacts and engineering relationships; oversee technical engagement and serve as the point of contact for customer-related technical activities.
Develop technical information for new business proposals, product specifications, statements of work, and system requirements.
Recommend product applications or modifications to satisfy customer requirements.
Confer with customer technical representatives and management to determine and interpret customer requirements.
Track potential sales opportunities and competitor firms’ marketing efforts.
Assist customers with schematic, layout, simulation, component selection, board bring-up, measurement correlation, and RF integration challenges using available design tools.
Collaborate with RF design, mechanical, product, manufacturing, quality, sales, and other internal teams to deliver robust application solutions.