Customer Success Engineer - Level 1

At Ouster, we build sensors and tools for engineers, roboticists, and researchers, so they can make the world safer and more efficient. We've transformed LIDAR from an analog device with thousands of components to an elegant digital device powered by one chip-scale laser array and one CMOS sensor. The result is a full range of high-resolution LIDAR sensors that deliver superior imaging at a dramatically lower price. Our advanced sensor hardware and vision algorithms are used in autonomous cars, drones and many other applications. If you’re motivated by solving big problems, we’re hiring key roles across the company and need your help! 

Ouster is hiring a Customer Success Engineer to help our robotics customers be as successful and efficient with our lidar sensors as possible! This position will serve primarily to help our customers get up and running quickly, troubleshoot and fix any problems, track trending issues, and process 

all returns. These duties will be performed in compliance with policy guidelines and within timeframes as defined in the team’s SLAs and/or project requirements. 

Key Responsibilities: 

• Customer Integration & Onboarding:
  • Lead post-sale technical onboarding, guiding customers through sensor integration, network configuration, and software (SDK/API) setup.
  • Validate customer system architecture and sensor configurations to ensure optimal performance and alignment with project requirements.
• Advanced Technical Triage & Resolution:
  • Perform root cause analysis for complex customer issues involving hardware, firmware, networking, and software stacks by analyzing sensor diagnostic logs, network packet captures (e.g., Wireshark), and customer-provided system data.
  • Triage and resolve inbound technical support requests, distinguishing between hardware malfunctions, firmware bugs, network configuration errors, and software integration challenges.
• System-Level Diagnostics & Troubleshooting:
  • Utilize command-line interfaces (CLI), diagnostic software, and networking tools to diagnose and resolve issues related to sensor connectivity, data streaming (TCP/UDP), and system performance across Linux and Windows environments.
  • Replicate customer environments and issues in a lab setting to isolate variables and validate potential solutions before deployment.
• Engineering Escalation & Collaboration:
  • Act as a key liaison between customers and internal engineering teams. Escalate unresolved issues by authoring detailed bug reports in a ticketing system (e.g., Jira) with comprehensive logs, reproducible steps, and initial analysis.
  • Independently research and test novel solutions, consulting technical documentation, schematics, and internal knowledge bases.
• Performance Optimization & Consultation:
  • Advise customers on best practices for configuring sensor parameters (e.g., resolution, rotation rate) and optimizing network settings to achieve desired outcomes related to point cloud density, data accuracy, and low-latency performance.
• Knowledge Base Development:
  • Author, review, and maintain technical documentation, including application notes, troubleshooting guides, and knowledge base articles, to enable customer self-service and scale support operations.

• On-Call & Live Troubleshooting:
  • This role requires a readiness to engage directly with customers through on-demand video and phone calls to provide immediate, hands-on troubleshooting. You will be expected to confidently lead these conversations, quickly understand customer pain points, and guide them to a resolution more efficiently than via email. As part of the team, you will also participate in a formal on-call rotation to provide mission-critical support for customer projects, which may necessitate after-hours and weekend availability.

Desired Qualities and Skills: 

Technical Skills

• Linux Proficiency: Deep hands-on experience in Linux environments (Ubuntu preferred), including command-line proficiency, system administration, package management, and script execution.
• Networking Expertise