Teradyne

Applications Engineering Manager- Optical (LitePoint; San Jose, CA)

Teradyne$171K — $275K *
Technical Services
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Photonics, Optical Engineering, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or related field (Master's preferred)
  • 8+ years in optical R&D, design, testing, or applications engineering with customer interaction
  • Prior management experience or demonstrated leadership qualities
  • Strong understanding of photonics testing principles and equipment
  • Hands-on experience with optical test instruments such as optical sampling scopes and BERTs

Responsibilities

  • Manage and develop a team of applications engineers
  • Set technical direction and ensure high-quality customer support
  • Act as the escalation point for complex technical issues
  • Oversee troubleshooting and issue resolution for photonics test products
  • Coordinate with sales teams for customer engagement and communication plans

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health coverage including medical, dental, and vision
  • Flexible Spending Accounts for health expenses
  • Retirement savings plans with company contributions
  • Life and disability insurance for employee security
  • Tuition assistance programs for continued learning
Full Job Description
Opportunity Overview

Our LitePoint team is seeking an Applications Engineering Manager to lead our photonics test applications effort in San Jose, CA. You will grow and manage a team of applications engineers and serve as the senior technical bridge between our photonics test products and the customers who depend on them-accountable for both your team's delivery (installation, calibration, troubleshooting, training, enablement) and the customer relationships that drive adoption and account growth. The position will work closely with the engineering and marketing organizations to guide product development as well and manage key customer design in activity.

Working in close partnership with regional applications and sales teams, you will ensure consistent support coverage and a steady flow of market information to R&D and product marketing. The applicant should have experience high-speed optical communications test-optical transceivers, silicon photonics, and optical links-using tools such as optical sampling scopes, BERTs, CDRs, optical spectrum analyzers, and optical power meters. This role suits an experienced applications engineer ready to lead: someone who can still go into depth in the lab, but whose primary leverage is developing the team, setting technical direction, and owning the regional customer relationship.

Team Leadership
  • Manage, coach, and develop a team of applications engineers-goal-setting, performance management, workload balancing, and career growth.
  • Set technical direction and best practices; ensure consistent, high-quality support across customers.
  • Act as the escalation point for complex technical and customer situations.
  • Drive customer design-ins and develop technical messaging for customer updates

Applications & Product Support
  • Oversee troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and issue resolution across module and system levels.
  • Ensure customers are effectively supported through configuration, calibration, and operation of photonics test equipment.
  • Develop automated test solutions, libraries, and tools for chipset vendors, brand names, ODMs, and CMs.
  • Partner with engineering and product marketing to drive corrective action and influence product improvements.

Customer & Regional Engagement
  • Own senior-level customer relationships in the region, ensuring proactive communication, satisfaction, and growth.
  • Coordinate with regional applications and sales teams on coverage, engagement plans, and priorities.
  • Direct product demonstrations, training, and technical workshops.
  • Capture field feedback and channel it for product roadmap development.

Documentation & Reporting
  • Ensure the team maintains strong technical documentation, application notes, and training materials.
  • Report to leadership on customer interactions, issue trends, resolution metrics, and product feedback.
  • Represent LitePoint at trade shows, conferences, and industry events.


All About You
We seek individuals who share our passion and determination. Our commitment to customer success drives us to go the extra mile. If you're ready to join us in this mission, take a closer look at the minimum criteria for the position.
  • Bachelor's degree in Photonics, Optical Engineering, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or related field (Master's preferred, or equivalent experience).
  • 8+ years in optical R&D, design, testing, or applications engineering, including customer-facing work.
  • Prior people-management experience, or demonstrated technical leadership (mentor, team lead, project lead) with readiness to formally manage a team.

Technical Skills
  • Strong grasp of photonics testing principles, equipment, and measurement techniques.
  • Deep understanding of high-speed Ethernet standards (IEEE 802.3bs/cd).
  • Hands-on experience with optical test instruments: optical sampling scopes, CDR, BERT, optical spectrum analyzer, optical power meter.
  • Structured troubleshooting from system down to component level.
  • Proficiency in C/C++, Python, or similar for test automation.

Leadership & Communication
  • Proven ability to lead, coach, and develop technical staff.
  • Excellent communication skills, able to represent LitePoint to senior customer stakeholders.
  • Track record of building lasting customer relationships in a technical environment.
  • Effective coordination across distributed regional teams.

Other
  • Ability to manage multiple priorities, engineers, and customers concurrently.
  • Willingness to travel to customer sites, regional offices, and company events as needed.


This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

Compensation:
The base salary range for this role is $171,900 to 275,000. This range is a good faith estimate, and the amount of base salary will correspond with experience and skill set. This range can also fluctuate depending on demand and location.

Incentive Plan: This job is eligible for discretionary bonus(es) based on financial performance.

Benefits:

Teradyne offers a variety of robust health and well-being benefit programs, including medical, dental, vision, Flexible Spending Accounts, retirement savings plans, life and disability insurance, paid vacation & holidays, tuition assistance programs, and more. Please click here to see details.

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About Teradyne

Teradyne, Inc. is a leading supplier of automation equipment for test and industrial applications. Teradyne Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) is used to test semiconductors, wireless products, data storage and complex electronic systems, which serve consumer, communications, industrial and government customers. Industrial Automation products include Collaborative Robots used by global manufacturing and light industrial customers to improve quality and increase manufacturing efficiency. In 2019, Teradyne had revenue of $2.3 billion and today employs 5,500 people worldwide. For more information, visit teradyne.com. Teradyne(R) is a registered trademark of Teradyne, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.
Learn more about Teradyne
Size
5,900 employees
Market Cap
$13.1 billion
Industry
Net Income
$784.1 million
Founded
1960
5 Year Trend
+16.1%
Revenue
$3.1 billion
NASDAQ

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