Job Title:  Applications Engineer - Custom Motion Solutions

Haydon Kerk Pittman, an AMETEK business, provides precision motion-control solutions for medical, laboratory automation, semiconductor, industrial automation, and other advanced technology markets.

We are seeking an Applications Engineer – Custom Motion Solutions to serve as the primary technical interface for assigned customers and sales territories. This role supports customers from initial application review through technical qualification, custom engineering handoff, prototype evaluation, and transition toward production.

The Applications Engineer partners with Sales, Product Management, Custom Engineering, Operations, and customers to assess technical fit, guide customers toward standard or lightly customized solutions whenever possible and ensure larger custom opportunities are clearly defined before entering Engineering. Applications Engineering owns the customer-specific technical path required to convert qualified opportunities into successful custom solutions.

Key Responsibilities:

Customer Technical Support & Opportunity Qualification

• Serve as the primary technical contact for assigned customers, territories, and opportunities.
• Work with customers and Sales to understand application requirements, performance needs, operating conditions, timing, target price, and production expectations.
• Provide technical guidance on HKP motion-control products, including linear actuators, lead screw technologies, stepper motors, DC motors, and related electromechanical solutions.
• Direct customers toward standard products, existing configurations, or light customization whenever possible.
• Evaluate customer-specific opportunities for feasibility, application fit, alignment with HKP capabilities, risk, timing, and resource needs.
• Ensure requirements, assumptions, and success criteria are sufficiently defined before custom engineering work begins.

Engineering Handoff & Custom Project Support

• Translate customer needs into clear engineering requirements, specifications, assumptions, and acceptance criteria.
• Move qualified, strategy-aligned opportunities into Engineering quickly when requirements are clear and capacity is available.
• Partner with Sales, Product Management, and Engineering when prioritization requires balancing customer value, technical fit, revenue potential, and resource constraints.
• Remain the customer-facing technical owner while Custom Engineering performs detailed design, development, prototyping, and testing.
• Coordinate technical communication between customers and Engineering to improve responsiveness and reduce inefficient large-group meetings.
• Support prototype evaluation, technical iterations, quotation input, documentation expectations, and transition toward production orders.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partner with Sales to support conversion of qualified custom opportunities while Sales retains ownership of the commercial funnel.
• Provide technical input for quotations, prototype proposals, feasibility reviews, and production assumptions.
• Share recurring customer needs, product gaps, configuration opportunities, and platform ideas with Product Management.
• Coordinate with Engineering, Operations, Manufacturing Engineering, Customer Service, and Quality to support customer requirements and production readiness.
• Provide product and application training to Sales, customers, and internal teams as needed.

We are looking for:

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Engineering Technology, or a related technical field.
• 3–5+ years of experience in applications engineering, technical sales support, motion control, electromechanical systems, automation, or related industrial technologies.
• Strong understanding of electromechanical products, motor fundamentals, application requirements, and manufacturing considerations.
• Ability to translate customer needs into technical requirements and actionable engineering inputs.
• Experience supporting customers, sales teams, and cross-functional engineering organizations.
• Demonstrated ability and willingness to use AI tools to improve productivity, decision-making, work quality, and to reduce costs. The successful candidate must be able to identify appropriate AI use cases and critically evaluate AI-generated outputs.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts clearly to customers and internal teams.
• Ability to manage multiple customer opportunities with urgency, ownership, and attention to detail.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office tools; experience with technical drawings, specifications, or CAD tools is a plus.
• Ability to travel domestically as required.

Preferred

• Experience with linear actuators, stepper motors, DC motors, lead screw assemblies, or integrated electromechanical systems.
• Experience supporting OEM customers in medical equipment, laboratory automation, semiconductor equipment, industrial automation, robotics, or advanced manufacturing.
• Familiarity with custom engineering, prototype development, technical quoting, and production transition processes.
• Experience working across Sales, Engineering, Product Management, Operations, Quality, and Customer Service.

What Success Looks Like

Within the first year, successful candidates will:

• Establish themselves as the primary technical contact for assigned customers and territories.
• Improve the quality, completeness, and speed of custom opportunity intake.
• Direct more opportunities toward standard or lightly customized solutions where appropriate.
• Improve handoffs to Custom Engineering and strengthen customer-facing technical communication.
• Help move qualified opportunities through prototype evaluation, iteration, and production transition.
• Provide Product Management with feedback on recurring customer needs, capability gaps, and platform opportunities.

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