Lead Applications Engineer, PNT

Duties & Responsibilities:

VIAVI is seeking a Lead Applications Engineer to join our growing PNT (Position, Navigation, and Timing) Division. This is an individual contributor role reporting to the Director, Solutions Engineering. The Lead Applications Engineer owns the Assured PNT (APNT) testbed and is the hands-on technical authority on how VIAVI PNT products behave in the lab and in the field. The role verifies new products and firmware releases before they reach customers, validates user manuals and other technical documents by using them as a customer would, trains the post-sales support team on new products and features, and provides level 2 technical support to the customer service team. This position is home office (USA) or based in Germantown, MD, with up to 20% travel.

Duties & Responsibilities:

APNT Testbed

• Set up, configure, and maintain the APNT testbed in Germantown, MD, including GNSS simulators, RF signal generation and distribution, interference and jamming sources, reference timing, and devices under test, with remote access for routine operation

• Design test cases for performance and resilience testing, including GNSS-degraded and GNSS-denied scenarios, interference, spoofing, holdover, and recovery

• Automate test execution and data collection with scripting, and maintain the test scripts and configurations as reusable assets

• Analyze results and write test reports that are accurate, repeatable, and clear enough for Engineering, Product Line Management, and customer-facing teams to act on

• Keep the testbed equipment calibrated, documented, and under configuration control

• Participate in field test events to test our products in real time in live threat environments, and bring the results and lessons learned back into the testbed and test cases

Product and Firmware Verification

• Test the operation and functionality of PNT products at new product release and at each firmware release, using the products as a customer would, as a final quality check before customer delivery

• Maintain a customer-use checklist for each product so that releases are checked the same way every time

• Reproduce, document, and report defects to Engineering with the configuration, data, and steps needed to resolve them

• Confirm that reported defects are fixed in subsequent releases

Technical Documentation Validation

• Validate user manuals, quick start guides, application notes, and other technical documents by following them as a customer would, on the actual product

• Report errors, gaps, and unclear procedures to the document owner, and confirm corrections

• Contribute technical content, procedures, and test results to documents as requested by the owner

Post-Sales Support Enablement

• Train the post-sales support team when new products or features are released, so they can support customers from day one

• Prepare training material, demonstration setups, and reference configurations for support use

• Contribute troubleshooting tips, known behaviors, and workarounds to the support team's knowledge base

Level 2 Technical Support

• Provide level 2 technical support to Customer Service on cases that need deeper product, GNSS, or RF expertise

• Reproduce customer issues in the lab, isolate root cause, and either provide the fix to Customer Service or escalate to Engineering with the steps to reproduce and supporting data

• Report findings and resolutions back to Customer Service so they can close out the case with the customer

• Feed recurring issues and customer usage patterns back to Solutions Engineering, Engineering, and Product Line Management

Pre-Requisites / Skills / Experience Requirements:
Pre-Requisites / Skills / Experience Requirements:

Required Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant technical field; equivalent military or professional technical training or experience

• 6+ years of hands-on experience in test engineering, applications engineering, product support, or field engineering for GNSS, timing technologies, SDR, or RF products

• Working knowledge of GNSS (GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou), GNSS receivers, and the effects of interference, jamming, and spoofing on receiver performance

• Experience with GNSS simulators or RF test equipment, including signal generators, spectrum analyzers, and oscilloscopes

• Experience writing test procedures and test reports

• Scripting experience for test automation, Python preferred

• Comfortable working directly with customers and internal teams on technical issues, and able to explain findings clearly in writing

• Able to work independently, manage multiple concurrent tests and cases, and keep accurate records

• Ability to travel up to 20%.

Desired Experience:

• Experience with precision timing products and standards, including IEEE 1588 PTP, SyncE, NTP, and holdover with OCXO, rubidium, or cesium oscillators

• Experience with inertial navigation systems and GNSS/INS integration

• Experience with Iridium PNT, M-code, SAASM, or other assured PNT technologies

• Experience with military or defense test programs, or GPS test ranges

• Experience with network configuration (VLAN, routing, SNMP) as used in timing and network management

• Lab skills: RF cabling and connectors, signal distribution, power, basic PCB-level troubleshooting

• Familiarity with configuration management and defect tracking tools

• Ability to obtain a US DoD Secret security clearance

If you have what it takes to push boundaries and seize opportunities, apply to join our team today.

Job Posting Pay Range:
103,600
to
192,400

Exceptional qualifications, experience and location may impact salary. VIAVI offers a competitive benefits package that includes paid time off, health, life and disability insurance, 401(k), and a bonus program.