Customer Success Engineer - Level 1

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: Strong, practical understanding of networking principles and protocols, including TCP/IP , UDP , DNS , DHCP , VLANs and time synchronization protocols like PTP (IEEE 1588) . Proven ability to diagnose network issues using tools like tcpdump , Wireshark, ping , and netstat .
• Scripting & Automation: Experience with Python for scripting, log parsing, or automating diagnostic tasks is highly preferred.
• Robotics Frameworks (Bonus): Familiarity with ROS (Robot Operating System) or ROS2 and associated tools (e.g., RViz) for data visualization and robotics integration is a significant plus.

Professional Qualities

• Problem-Solving & Autonomy: A resourceful and analytical mindset with the ability to independently troubleshoot complex technical challenges, conduct research, and formulate solutions with minimal supervision.
• Technical Communication: Excellent communication skills with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts clearly and concisely to diverse audiences, from robotics engineers to project managers.
• Customer Focus & Resilience: A patient and positive demeanor, with a proven ability to manage and de-escalate stressful customer situations while maintaining a focus on resolution.
• Ownership & Proactivity: A strong sense of ownership for customer issues, demonstrated by consistently following up on open tickets and driving them to resolution.
• Organization & Collaboration: Superb organizational and time-management skills, with the ability to prioritize a dynamic workload and collaborate effectively within a fast-paced team environment.

$80,000 - $110,00 a year

The base pay will be dependent on your skills, work experience, location, and qualifications. This role may also be eligible for equity & benefits.

We acknowledge the confidence gap at Ouster. You do not need to meet all of these requirements to be the ideal candidate for this role.

At Ouster we offer a range of competitive benefits, as we believe in taking care of our employees in all aspects of their lives. Our newly renovated office, located in the Mission District of San Francisco, is a dog-friendly workplace with a kitchen stocked with snacks, fresh fruit and drinks, and a complimentary dinner catered nightly. Additional perks include 15 vacation days/10 paid holidays annually; paid parental leave; pre-tax commuter or health care/dependent care accounts; 401K match up to 4%; medical, vision and dental plans with premiums covered at 100% for the employee and 75% for dependents (Cigna or Kaiser); life insurance; and short term disability and long term disability. Ouster offers the best benefit options available because we consider the well-being of our employees a top priority.

Ouster is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer that pursues and hires a diverse workforce. Ouster does not make employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, nationality, sex, gender, gender-identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, military status, or any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws. Ouster also strives for a healthy and safe workplace, and prohibits harassment of any kind. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Ouster considers qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.