Applications Engineer - Principal

Principal Applications Engineer RF, Microwave & Millimeter-Wave MMIC Team

MACOM is seeking a Principal Applications Engineer to serve as a recognized technical leader within our Applications Engineering organization. This role combines deep expertise in RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave semiconductor products with exceptional customer engagement, technical problem-solving, and cross-functional leadership.

The Principal Applications Engineer provides technical leadership across the organization while supporting strategic customers developing next-generation communications, aerospace, defense, industrial, medical, scientific, and test-and-measurement systems. This individual will influence product adoption, guide application strategy, mentor engineers, and help establish best practices for characterization, technical support, and customer engagement.

Success in this role requires a unique combination of semiconductor device knowledge, measurement expertise, practical circuit and system-level understanding, customer-facing skills, and the ability to influence technical direction across multiple functional groups. The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise with the ability to communicate complex concepts clearly and effectively to both customers and internal stakeholders.

Candidates with experience spanning both semiconductor product development and customer-facing engineering roles are particularly well suited for this position.

Key Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership
• Serve as a recognized technical authority for RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave semiconductor products and applications.
• Provide leadership on complex customer issues, strategic engagements, and advanced technical investigations.
• Mentor and develop Applications Engineers across multiple experience levels.
• Establish and promote best practices for technical investigations, measurement methodologies, customer support workflows, and engineering documentation.
• Lead initiatives that improve engineering effectiveness, customer satisfaction, product adoption, and applications engineering best practices.
• Influence product strategy through collaboration with design engineering, product management, product engineering, reliability engineering, marketing, and sales organizations.
• Provide leadership and technical guidance during new product introduction and lifecycle management activities.
• Act as a trusted technical advisor for both internal teams and external customers.
• Customer Engagement & Technical Problem Solving
• Serve as a senior technical interface for key and strategic customers.
• Lead investigations involving complex device-level, circuit-level, and system-level technical challenges.
• Translate customer requirements into practical application solutions and design recommendations.
• Support customer design activities through simulation guidance, measurement support, circuit recommendations, and performance optimization.
• Deliver advanced technical presentations, training, and application guidance to internal and external audiences.
• Represent MACOM in strategic technical discussions with leading customers, partners, and industry organizations.
• RF, Microwave & Millimeter-Wave Characterization
• Develop and execute advanced characterization methodologies for semiconductor devices and RF subsystems.
• Design, operate, and optimize sophisticated laboratory measurement systems used for product evaluation and customer support.

Perform and interpret measurements including:

• Small-signal characterization
• Large-signal characterization
• Power compression
• Intermodulation distortion
• Linearity analysis
• Noise figure
• Phase noise
• Efficiency measurements
• Thermal characterization
• Pulsed-IV characterization
• Load-pull and source-pull analysis
• Modulated analysis
• Provide technical oversight regarding measurement uncertainty, data integrity, correlation, and repeatability.

Application Development

• Develop evaluation circuits, reference designs, and application concepts enabling customer success.
• Contribute to datasheets, application notes, design guides, technical presentations, and training materials.
• Review and improve product collateral to ensure technical accuracy and application relevance.
• Work closely with product and design teams to improve product usability and customer adoption.

Cross-Functional Influence

Collaborate closely with:

• Design Engineering
• Product Engineering
• Reliability Engineering
• Marketing
• Sales
• Operations
• To improve products, characterization methodologies, technical collateral, and customer support strategies.
• Drive resolution of complex technical issues requiring coordination across multiple engineering disciplines.
• Serve as a strong voice-of-the-customer during product planning and development activities.

Required Qualifications

Education

BSEE or BSECE required. MSEE preferred.

Experience

Typically 10+ years of relevant experience, or equivalent demonstrated expertise, in RF, microwave, millimeter-wave, semiconductor, or related high-frequency engineering disciplines. Demonstrated success operating independently on highly complex technical challenges. Proven ability to lead technical initiatives and influence outcomes across organizational boundaries. Strong customer-facing experience within a technically demanding engineering environment.

Technical Expertise

Candidates should possess a strong understanding of:

• RF and microwave circuit theory
• Semiconductor device fundamentals
• Device characterization techniques
• Network analysis
• Spectrum analysis
• Noise measurements
• Power measurements
• Linearity characterization
• System-level RF performance
• Simulation and modeling concepts
• Measurement uncertainty and correlation methodologies

Required

Demonstrated familiarity supporting, characterizing, designing with, or developing products utilizing technologies such as: GaAs, GaN. Candidates should possess a practical understanding of device operation, performance tradeoffs, reliability considerations, thermal behavior, and application-specific design challenges associated with compound semiconductor technologies. Experience supporting products spanning low-frequency RF through microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies, including passive components, control products, signal-chain components, and power devices, is highly desirable.

Laboratory Experience

Hands-on experience with advanced RF test equipment, including:

• Vector Network Analyzers (VNA)
• Spectrum Analyzers
• Signal Generators
• Noise Figure Measurement Systems
• Probe Stations
• Power Meters
• Oscilloscopes
• Load-Pull and Source-Pull Systems

The successful candidate must be comfortable developing custom measurement techniques and troubleshooting complex measurement environments.

Preferred Qualifications

The following experiences are highly desirable:

• MMIC design
• RF circuit design
• Power amplifier design
• Semiconductor product development
• Product characterization
• Device modeling and simulation
• Reliability engineering
• Microwave packaging
• System architecture
• Technical marketing
• Applications engineering leadership
• Candidates who have worked in both semiconductor design engineering and customer-facing applications engineering roles are especially encouraged to apply.

Leadership Expectations

A successful Principal Applications Engineer will:

• Be recognized as a technical leader by peers across multiple organizations.
• Influence decisions and technical direction beyond their immediate reporting structure.
• Serve as a mentor and technical resource for developing engineers.
• Drive continuous improvement in engineering processes, measurement methodologies, and support practices.
• Identify emerging customer needs and translate them into technical and business opportunities.
• Lead complex problem-solving efforts from initial investigation through final resolution.
• Operate effectively in highly ambiguous technical environments.
• Establish credibility with customers and cross-functional engineering teams.

Why Join MACOM

Applications Engineering at MACOM operates at the intersection of semiconductor technology, customer success, and product innovation. Principal Applications Engineers play a critical role in shaping how products are adopted, how technologies evolve, and how customers succeed in demanding real-world applications.

This position offers the opportunity to work with industry-leading compound semiconductor technologies, collaborate with world-class engineering teams, and influence products used in some of the world's most advanced communications, aerospace, defense, industrial, and scientific systems.

<