Forward Deployment Engineer - Advanced - 5G/6G/NTN - US-CA-San Diego-5G, United States
$119,610 - $199,340 USD yearly
Originally posted 28 September 2026 by the employer.
This role involves working with 5G/6G/NTN technology.
About the role
The Advanced Forward Deployment Engineer works inside a customer's development program as a software developer, systems engineer, and deployment lead, shipping production code. This role involves diagnosing issues deep within the protocol stack (Layer 1 to Layer 3) and modifying software for 5G/6G/NTN systems.
What you'll do
- Own technically complex deployment issues from first report to validated fix.
- Work onsite or closely with wireless customer development teams during major feature introductions.
- Analyze signaling flows, traces, timing behavior, and performance data to isolate failures.
- Write and modify application and protocol-stack software, plus supporting software and firmware.
- Develop and extend Python APIs that customer teams integrate against.
- Create diagnostic instrumentation when existing tools are insufficient.
- Develop, validate, and deploy controlled patches, feature flags, and interim releases.
What you'll need
- Strong software-development experience across multiple software stacks.
- Expertise in at least one domain (PHY/L1, MAC/RLC/PDCP and L2, or RRC/NAS and L3), plus working knowledge of adjacent layers and end-to-end 4G, 5G, and 5G-Advanced system behavior.
- Proficiency in C/C++ and Python (including API development), Linux, embedded or real-time software, and automated testing.
- Experience debugging protocol interactions through logs, traces, packet captures, call flows, and timing analysis.
- Familiarity with 3GPP specifications and the practical differences among standards compliance, interoperability, and implementation behavior.
- Experience in design and test instrumentation and test emulation tools.
- Ability to produce production-quality code that ships in a customer's build.
- Judgment and customer presence to operate inside confidential development programs.
- Willingness to relocate or travel to a specific customer site as required by the assignment.
Skills: 5G, protocol stack, C/C++, Python, customer-facing
This role has been open 12 days — well below the 45-day median for Applications FAE roles.
Applications FAE · Systems Software
|
Open roles in category
81
|
Median days open
45 d
|
Median salary
$173k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Keysight Technologies | All employers we track in this specialty (81 roles · 24 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 10 | 81 |
| Median days open | 12 d | 45 d (−33 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $173k |
Skills observed across this category: 5G, protocol stack, C/C++, Python, customer-facing
Who's hiring in this category
- Microchip Technology · 11 open roles · median 60 d
- Qualcomm · 11 open roles · median 74 d
- Keysight Technologies (this employer) · 10 open roles · median 11 d
- NVIDIA · 10 open roles · median 19 d
- AMD · 7 open roles · median 33 d
- Infineon Technologies · 6 open roles · median 49 d
How we counted: 81 open Applications FAE (Systems Software) roles from 24 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 10 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there. Figures refresh nightly.