Forward Deployment Engineer – Expert - 5G/6G/NTN - US-CA-Santa Clara-Bldg 2-Keysi, United States
$175,670 - $292,780 USD yearly
Originally posted 9 October 2026 by the employer.
Engineer and deploy technology for 5G, 6G, and NTN systems.
About the role
The Expert Forward Deployment Engineer works inside a customer's development program as a software developer, systems engineer, and deployment lead, shipping production code. This role focuses on diagnosing problems deep within the protocol stack (Layer 1 to Layer 3) and modifying software for 5G, 6G, and NTN systems.
What you'll do
- Reduce broad account concepts and business strategies into structured, multi-workstream deployment projects. - Act as the key technical lead and go-to person for Department or Senior Management on complex or high-impact deployment engagements. - Architect and own solutions to problems requiring a unique or highly specialized skill set. - Analyze signaling flows, traces, timing behavior, and performance data to isolate failures across Keysight and customer implementations. - Write and modify application and protocol-stack software, plus supporting software and firmware. - Develop and extend Python APIs that customer teams integrate against.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's or Master's degree and 8+ years of relevant software/systems engineering experience. - Expertise in at least one domain (PHY/L1, MAC/RLC/PDCP and L2, or RRC/NAS and L3) with 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 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.
Nice to have
- Specialized depth and/or breadth of expertise across multiple protocol layers, software stacks, and deployment domains. - Demonstrated technical leadership: ability to design solutions to unusually complex problems and set direction for other engineers.
Skills: C/C++, Python, Linux, embedded software, 5G, protocol stack
This role has been open 0 days — well below the 58-day median for Systems Software Engineering roles.
Systems Software Engineering · Systems Software
|
Open roles in category
679
|
Median days open
58 d
|
Median salary
$213k
|
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 (679 roles · 73 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 13 | 679 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 152 | 6085 · 146 employers |
| Median days open | 10 d | 58 d (−48 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $213k |
Skills observed across this category: C/C++, Python, Linux, embedded software, 5G, protocol stack
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 168 open roles · median 73 d
- NVIDIA · 127 open roles · median 51 d
- AMD · 61 open roles · median 49 d
- Mobileye · 29 open roles · median 72 d
- Broadcom · 22 open roles · median 44 d
- Arm Holdings · 20 open roles · median 106 d
How we counted: 679 open Systems Software Engineering (Systems Software) roles from 73 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 9 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 — it is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.