Application Engineer Jobs in San Francisco, CA

At Ouster, we build sensors and tools for engineers, roboticists, and researchers, so they can make the world safer and more efficient. We've transformed LIDAR from an analog device with thousands of components to an elegant digital device powered by one chip-scale laser array and one CMOS sensor. The result is a full range of high-resolution LIDAR sensors that deliver superior imaging at a dramatically lower price. Our advanced sensor hardware and vision algorithms are used in autonomous cars, drones and many other applications. If you’re motivated by solving big problems, we’re hiring key roles across the company and need your help!

We are looking for a Director, Global Field Application Engineer to build and lead the team that sits between Ouster’s digital lidar sensors and the customers designing them into autonomous vehicles, robots, and smart infrastructure around the world. You’ll grow and manage a distributed field application engineering organization, own our technical relationship with top automotive, robotics, and industrial accounts, and make sure the voice of the customer shapes what we build next.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Build, lead, and scale a global field application engineering (FAE) team across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC, providing pre-sales technical support to automotive, robotics, industrial, and smart infrastructure customers.
• Define and manage end-to-end technical customer experience – from initial evaluation and proof-of-concept through integration, qualification, and production – for Ouster’s strategic accounts worldwide.
• Serve as the senior technical escalation point for critical customer issues, coordinating with Hardware, Firmware, Software, and Quality Engineering to drive rapid, high-quality resolution.
• Act as a trusted technical advisor to customers’ engineering leadership, building deep relationships that turn evaluations into design wins and design wins into long-term partnerships.
• Partner with Sales and Product Management to shape account strategy, support technical deal cycles, and represent Ouster at customer site visits, trade shows, and industry conferences.
• Channel voice-of-customer insight back into the product roadmap, working closely with Product Management and Engineering on sensor and software requirements for existing and future solutions.
• Establish scalable global FAE processes, tools, documentation, and training/certification programs so the team delivers a consistent, high-quality experience regardless of region.
• Define and report on team KPIs – response time, customer satisfaction, design wins supported, and time-to-resolution – and use them to continuously improve the organization.
• Recruit, mentor, and develop field application engineers globally, building a bench of technical talent and a clear growth path for the team.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, Physics, or a related technical field (Master’s preferred).
• 10+ years of experience in field applications engineering, systems engineering, or another customer-facing technical role within lidar, sensors, automotive electronics, robotics, or related hardware industries.
• 5+ years of people leadership experience, including building and managing distributed or global technical teams.
• Working knowledge of lidar, optical/perception sensing, or related sensor technologies, and the ability to speak fluently to both hardware and software integration challenges.
• Track record of guiding automotive OEM/Tier 1, robotics, or industrial customers through evaluation, integration, and qualification cycles to production.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to engage credibly with customer engineering teams and executives alike.
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally (approximately 25%–50%).

BONUS QUALIFICATIONS

• Direct experience with lidar or 3D perception systems (point cloud processing, sensor fusion, or similar).
• Background in the autonomous vehicle, ADAS, or robotaxi ecosystem.
• Familiarity with embedded systems, SDKs, or software stacks (e.g., ROS) used to integrate sensor data into customer platforms.
• Experience scaling a global technical support or field applications organization at a hardware or deep-tech startup.
• Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in a relevant engineering or scientific discipline.
• Experience working across multiple regions/cultures, with language skills beyond English a plus.

The base pay will be dependent on your skills, work experience, location, and qualifications. This role may also be eligible for equity & benefits. ($190,000 - $240,000)

We acknowledge the confidence gap at Ouster. You do not need to meet all of these requirements to be the ideal candidate for this role.

Ouster is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer that pursues and hires a diverse workforce. Ouster does not make employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, nationality, sex, gender, gender-identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, military status, or any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws. Ouster also strives for a healthy and safe workplace, and prohibits harassment of any kind. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Ouster considers qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment. If you have a disability or special need that requires

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