Field Application Engineer

Job Title

Field Application Engineer

Role Summary

Provide firmware-first field application support for Allegro motor-control SoCs used in data center cooling: fans, liquid-cooling pumps, and rack thermal management. The role centers on integrating SDKs, configuring device peripherals, tuning control loops, and debugging commutation and fault behavior on real hardware.

This position interfaces with customer firmware and hardware teams and internal design groups; it suits an early-career engineer with embedded firmware and BLDC/PMSM motor-control fundamentals.

Experience Level

Entry-level — 1–3 years of relevant experience in motor control, power electronics, or embedded systems; relevant internships and co-ops are considered.

Responsibilities

Technical and customer-facing responsibilities focused on firmware bring-up, debugging, and device selection for data center customers.

• Own firmware integration: SDK/API integration, register and peripheral configuration, toolchain/build setup, and firmware porting to customer platforms.
• Debug and tune control algorithms: sensorless and sensored FOC, trapezoidal commutation, speed/torque loop tuning, startup/stall handling, PWM/ADC timing.
• Support customers pre-sales through production: device selection, firmware bring-up, and production release support for OEM/ODM clients.
• Recommend components and feedback schemes (motor drivers, gate drivers, MCUs, current-sense and position-feedback) against power, efficiency, acoustic, and form-factor targets.
• Perform hardware bring-up: schematic/PCB review, evaluation demos, and hands-on debug of commutation, current loops, and startup behavior.
• Diagnose field issues: thermal performance, efficiency, audible noise, EMI/EMC concerns, and reliability under continuous duty.
• Maintain sample firmware, reference designs, and application notes; relay customer requirements and field data to product and design teams.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and practical experience for the role. Preferred items are marked.

• 1–3 years experience in motor control, power electronics, or embedded systems (internships/co-ops considered).
• Practical experience with BLDC/PMSM motor control: sensorless FOC, trapezoidal commutation, PWM generation, and inverter/half-bridge topologies.
• Strong embedded C experience on MCU, DSP, or motor-control SoC (bare-metal); able to read, modify, and debug production firmware.
• Firmware debugging experience with IDEs such as Keil or IAR and serial/trace tooling; familiarity with on-chip peripherals (PWM, ADC, timers, SPI/I2C/UART).
• Comfortable with lab instrumentation (oscilloscope, current probes, power analyzer, thermal camera) and able to read schematics.
• Strong written and spoken English; willingness to travel to customer and manufacturing sites (~20–30%).
• Preferred: exposure to data center/server/telecom hardware, thermal/cooling design, sensorless control algorithms, field weakening, acoustic-noise reduction, EMI/EMC mitigation, vendor SDKs or GUI tuning tools, firmware optimization, or prior customer-facing FAE/applications/support experience.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related technical field. Relevant internships and co-op experience are explicitly considered.

About the Company

Company: Allegro MicroSystems

Headquarters: Manchester, New Hampshire, USA

Global semiconductor company with over 30 years of innovation, developing semiconductor devices and design enablement tools. Allegro focuses on device development, foundry partnerships, IP characterization, and design automation to support product roadmaps and technology advancement.