Senior Staff Engineer, MK Application Engineering

Position Summary:

The Hardware Application Engineer supports customer adoption of optical sensor solutions, with primary focus on dToF sensors and additional support for optical force/pressure sensing and spectral sensors. The role translates customer application needs and RFIs into feasible validation plans, reviews customer schematics, builds and modifies prototypes, integrates sensors and development platforms into working demos, and coordinates with optical simulation, software and internal technical teams to resolve project issues. This position acts as the technical window to customers, clarifies sensor functions, capabilities and limitations, validates functional and performance metrics such as SNR, accuracy and repeatability, and provides practical structure and hardware modification recommendations to improve sensor performance in the customer's system.

Responsibility:

• Collect and clarify customer application requirements and RFIs, including use cases, mechanical constraints, optical path, interface needs, performance targets, validation criteria and open technical questions.
• Review customer schematics and hardware implementation, including sensor power, I2C/SPI/GPIO interfaces, timing, grounding, layout constraints and noise-sensitive paths; propose practical modification recommendations.
• Define and execute validation plans for dToF, optical force/pressure sensing and spectral sensor applications, covering test setup, measurement method, acceptance criteria and feasibility assessment.
• Perform optical sensor function and performance validation, including SNR, accuracy, repeatability, stability, calibration, crosstalk, ambient light impact and fixture/environmental influence.
• Modify customer prototypes or internal demo hardware hands-on, including sensor placement, fixture setup, cable/interface changes, basic rework and mechanical adjustment proposals.
• Work with optical simulation engineers to compare simulation assumptions with bench results, identify performance gaps and translate findings into optical, structural and hardware recommendations.
• Collaborate with software engineers to integrate sensors with development platforms, build customer-facing demos, verify sensor functions and support data collection/debugging.
• Develop Python scripts or similar tools for automated testing, sensor function verification, data logging, repeatability checks and quick analysis of validation results.
• Serve as the technical contact during customer projects, answer technical questions, coordinate internal expert input when required and drive issues toward practical resolution.
• Communicate with European internal technical, product and application teams to evaluate feasibility, align proposed solutions, escalate questions and provide structured customer feedback.
• Join sales and marketing teams in customer visits and technical workshops, present demo results, clarify requirements and provide engineering advice to support smooth meeting progress.

Who we are looking for

• Bachelor's degree or above in electronic engineering, optoelectronics, automation, physics, measurement/instrumentation or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of hardware, application engineering, sensor validation or optical module experience; dToF or optical sensing project experience is preferred.
• Strong hands-on capability in prototype bring-up, lab measurement, fixture setup, basic rework and troubleshooting with common instruments such as oscilloscope, logic analyzer and multimeter.
• Experience reviewing customer schematics, RFIs or technical requirement documents, and converting findings into clear feasibility comments and modification proposals.
• Good understanding of optical sensor system and performance factors such as SNR, accuracy, repeatability, emitter/receiver placement, field of view, cover material, ambient light, crosstalk, tolerance and calibration impact.
• Able to read sensor datasheets and understand I2C/SPI/GPIO, power and timing interfaces; able to propose practical hardware or structure modifications.
• Python scripting capability for automated tests, data logging and analysis; embedded tools, C/C++ or MATLAB experience is a plus.
• Clear customer-facing communication, structured problem solving and ability to explain technical tradeoffs to customer engineers and internal teams.
• Fluent English communication for technical discussion with European colleagues; able to support customer-facing technical meetings and on-site debugging when needed.

Please contact Lin Huang for further information via [email protected] or +86 (755) 33229167.