Application Engineer

About the role

Build a career powered by innovations that matter! At Novanta, our innovations power technology products that are transforming healthcare and advanced manufacturing-improving productivity, enhancing people's lives and redefining what's possible. We create for our global customers engineered components and sub-systems that deliver extreme precision and performance for a range of mission-critical applications-from minimally invasive surgery to robotics to 3D metal printing.

Novanta is one global team with over 26 offices located in The Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Looking for a great place to work? You have found it with a culture that embraces teamwork, collaboration and empowerment. Come explore Novanta.

Summary

As a Sales Application Engineer, you will be the technical bridge between our customers, Sales, and Engineering, turning complex customer challenges into high-performance solutions that create measurable value.

You will work directly with customers to understand their applications, demonstrate what's possible, and develop and validate solutions through hands-on prototyping, testing, and technical problem-solving. This is a highly collaborative, customer-facing role where technical expertise meets commercial impact, giving you the opportunity to influence customer solutions, contribute to product direction, and help drive customer success and business growth.

Primary Responsibilities

• Partner with Sales and customers to understand complex application requirements, recommend fit-for-purpose motion-control solutions, and clearly communicate technical performance, tradeoffs, and business value.
• Bring Novanta technology to life through customer demonstrations, hands-on prototyping, application testing, and solution qualification to ensure reliability, performance, and alignment with customer needs.
• Develop value-added solutions by combining Novanta capabilities with complementary third-party technologies, while providing technical input into feasibility, costing, product conversions, and customer onboarding.
• Bring the voice of the customer back into the business by partnering across Engineering, Product Management, Operations, and Quality to optimize solutions, inform product direction, and deliver an exceptional customer experience.

Required Experience, Education, Skills, Training and Competencies

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical discipline, with five or more years of experience supporting motion-control products, including linear bearings, linear motors, feedback systems, drives, and controllers.
• Experience in technical sales, applications engineering, or a comparable customer-facing technical role, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear and compelling recommendations for technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing considerations, market segments, and customer workflows, including factors that influence bill of material costs, customer ROI, and key performance indicators.
• Collaborative, customer-focused problem solver with strong project management skills and the ability to develop prototypes, integrate value-added technologies, manage multiple priorities, and work effectively across functions.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to lift up to 50 pounds.
• Ability to stand for extended periods.
• Ability to support hands-on prototype development, testing, demonstrations, and application qualification activities.

Travel Requirements

• Expect to travel approximately 50% of the time to work directly with customers and stay connected to the applications, technologies, and markets we serve.
• Travel may include customer visits, industry events, product training, and visits to other Novanta locations.
• Travel will be primarily domestic, with limited international travel based on business needs.

Compensation and Benefits

• The base pay for this position is $116,00-$174.000 per year depending on the geographic market.
• This position provides an opportunity for competitive quarterly sales compensation based on an achievement to plan.
• Novanta supports all aspects of your life's needs. This position provides a full range of medical, financial, and other benefits to make your quality of life better.