Liquid Instruments - Senior Product Marketing Engineer, Aerospace & Defense (EW/EMSO and PNT)

Liquid Instruments builds test and measurement tools for engineers and scientists who need precise, flexible instruments. Our founders are scientists from the Australian National University and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Our work in high-speed digital signal processing and ultra-sensitive instruments began with technology built to measure gravitational waves.

Our main product line, Moku, is a reconfigurable and reprogrammable, FPGA-based test and measurement platform. It handles both simple measurements and complex setups that use many instruments at once, and it is fast and straightforward to customize. Moku pairs capable hardware with easy-to-use software to balance flexibility, performance, and cost.

Liquid Instruments is headquartered in Canberra, Australia, with a U.S. office in Del Mar (San Diego), California.

Why this role exists

Moku fits two defense priorities: electromagnetic spectrum operations (EMSO) and assured positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT).

In electronic warfare (EW) and EMSO, threats change faster than test infrastructure. Conventional test benches are built from racks of separate instruments and chassis-based systems. Each one is specified, integrated, and maintained on its own. Moku combines that stack into a single software-defined unit. Signal capture and analysis, threat waveform generation, real-time DSP, and spectrum monitoring run on one platform that reconfigures in software as requirements change. It is the modern architecture for EW test: faster to deploy, easier to scale, and built to evolve with the threat.

In PNT, the move toward GPS-denied and alternative navigation depends on precision timing, phase measurement, and ultra-low-noise control. Our instruments come from that same work. It also connects directly to quantum inertial sensing as those sensors move into fielded systems.

Moku is already established in precision optics and photonics labs worldwide. This role leads our expansion into EW/EMSO and PNT. You'll set the programs and customers we prioritize, the applications we lead with, and how we win them.

You'll be our technical authority on A&D. You'll define where we compete. Sales will bring you into hard calls, and R&D will ask you what the market needs. You'll write the technical work that earns Moku's credibility with defense engineers.

San Diego preferred; U.S. remote considered.

Your work will include

Market strategy and segmentation. You'll define the EW/EMSO and PNT segments and applications where Liquid Instruments leads. You'll support Product Management in sizing the dollar opportunity in each segment so we invest where the return is greatest. You'll map how primes, neo-primes, defense research labs, FFRDCs, and SBIR and venture-backed companies buy, and assess how programs of record, ITAR and export control, and NDAA supply chain rules shape our path to market, including how our Australian presence positions us under AUKUS Pillar 2. You'll bring leadership a clear recommendation backed by evidence.

Competitive analysis. You'll support Product Management in tracking competitors' products, pricing, positioning, and roadmaps. You'll turn that analysis into deal-level guidance on where Moku wins and into sharper messaging, treating what competitors build as a signal of what customers are asking for.

Messaging. You’ll own vertical and product-level messaging for A&D, built on our existing company messaging framework. You’ll validate it with defense engineers. And ensure Marketing and Sales use it consistently.

Technical proof. You’ll write application notes, white papers, and benchmark data that establish Liquid Instruments in defense labs. Topics include wideband signal capture and analysis, threat waveform generation, real-time DSP, spectrum monitoring, phase and timing measurement, and clock characterization for assured PNT.

Launch and go-to-market. You’ll own the technical go-to-market for new A&D products, from positioning to sales enablement to launch content.

Sales enablement. You’ll build the training content, competitive battlecards, and demos ffor our Sales team, application engineers, and channel partners. The goal is for them to lead a credible conversation with a defense lab, prime, or neo-prime. You’ll support strategic pursuits hand in hand with our Sales team.

Influence on the roadmap. You’ll bring organized evidence from defense customers to Product Management and R&D. You’ll make the case for the capabilities, performance, environmental, and compliance requirements this market needs.

Technical presence. You'll work with customer engineering teams and programs to support evaluations, give demos, and lead technical sessions. You'll represent Liquid Instruments at key events and publish and present as part of the role. Expect about 30% travel.

You'll work closely with the Content, Field Marketing, and Design teams. They own the blog calendar, social channels, website production, and event logistics.

What success looks like

Within the first 6–12 months:

• You've delivered an A&D segmentation and priority strategy that Marketing, Sales, and Product use to guide investment. It includes a clear path through export control and procurement requirements
• Vertical and product messaging is tested with defense engineers, distinct from competitors, and in use across Marketing and Sales
• You've published at least four application notes, white papers, case studies, or benchmark studies. Defense engineers find them on their own, and Sales cites them
• Sales teams run your demos and handle defense conversations without you on the call
• Sales uses the competitive insight you've developed with Product Management to position Moku in active deals
• You've used evidence from this market to directly shape product or roadmap priorities
• You've owned the technical go-to-market for at least one product launch
• You've built relationships across key primes, neo-primes, labs, and programs that advance our pipeline

Requirements

• BS, MS, or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field
• 8+ years in product marketing, product management, business development, solutions architecture, applications engineering, systems engineering, or another customer-facing technical role, with substantial time in or near aerospace and defense
• Proven depth in electronic warfare, EMSO, SIGINT, radar, or assured PNT: the applications, test and validation workflows, programs, and key players
• Hands-on familiarity with RF and wideband test and measurement equipment: spectrum analyzers, signal generators, oscilloscopes, digitizers, and FPGA-based signal processing
• Working understanding of defense procurement: primes, neo-primes, and subs; programs of record; SBIR/STTR; and how test equipment decisions are made
• Familiarity with ITAR, EAR, and defense supply chain requirements
• [U.S. person status required. Active or prior security clearance, or eligibility to obtain one, preferred.]
• Experience supporting market sizing and competitive analysis
• Understanding of competitors, including Keysight, NI, Rohde & Schwarz, Tektronix, Safran, and precision timing vendors, plus the PXI and open-architecture ecosystem
• A track record of bringing a technical product into a defense market, from strategy through execution
• Able to lead work across teams without formal authority
• Comfortable with ambiguity and fast-moving work
• Travel for industry events and customer engagements (30%)

Base Compensation: $155,000 - $170,000, depending on experience.