Forward Deployment Specialist- AI and Incubation Team

Aptiv•San Diego, CA

About The Position

Forward Deployment Specialist, AI and Incubation Team ABOUT WIND RIVER Wind River is a global leader in delivering software for mission-critical intelligent systems. For more than four decades, the company has been an innovator and pioneer, powering billions of systems that require the highest levels of security, safety, and reliability. The company has received industry recognition for its technology innovation and leadership, and for its workplace culture, including global Great Place to Work certification and being named a “Top Workplace” for ten consecutive years. Wind River helps customers across automotive, aerospace, defense, industrial, medical, and telecommunications industries solve complex technology challenges on their journey toward the new intelligent machine economy. The company’s software powers generation after generation of the safest, most secure systems in the world. Examples include playing a key role in NASA space missions such as Artemis I, the James Webb Space Telescope, and multiple Mars rovers. We’ve achieved recent 5G milestones including the world’s first successful 5G data session with Verizon and building one of the largest Open RAN networks in the world with Vodafone. Wind River is looking for top talent to discover, create vision and build our next generation of products within its AI and Incubation team. We have a strong foundation of products within the embedded and cloud software space to build on and take to the next level of technology with AI at the EDGE. This is your chance to get in on the ground floor of that journey and to build a business within Wind River and Aptiv (our parent company). If you want to be part of a unique culture where the lived experience is based on our cultural attributes of growth mindset, customer-focus, and respect for individuals, come join us and help advance the future software defined world. YOUR ROLE Wind River seeks an outstanding Forward Deployment Specialist to join our new elite AI and Incubation team. This pivotal role demands a rare blend of deep technical knowledge, strategic/business insight, and exceptional communication skills. The ideal candidate will drive the adoption of EDGE AI in multiple business verticals, architect advanced solutions, and act as a trusted technical advisor to our key clients. You will report directly to the Vice President of AI and Incubation and work closely with the rest of the Product Management team in building this business. Travel will be required.

Requirements

Experience: 10+ years in technical sales engineering for embedded software and cloud technologies at the edge demonstrating both technical and business acumen.
Technical Expertise: Strong background in operating systems preferred (enterprise Linux, embedded Linux, RTOS, mixed-criticality) including boot, kernel, drivers, and performance tuning.
Knowledge of middleware and runtimes supporting Edge AI (e.g., container runtimes Docker, containerd, Kubernetes / K3s / MicroK8s at the edge, AI runtimes and accelerators (TensorRT, OpenVINO, ONNX Runtime, vendor SDKs)
Business Acumen: Ability to translate complex technical solutions into clear business value and ROI for executives.
Ability to design end-to-end Edge AI solutions spanning data ingestion, model lifecycle, deployment, runtime, and operations.
Hands-on understanding of AI frameworks and model formats (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, ONNX)
Proven ability to lead customer-facing technical engagements, including discovery workshops, executive briefings, and architecture reviews.
Skilled at eliciting business objectives, operational constraints, and success criteria, then translating them into viable Edge AI architectures.
Comfortable running meetings end-to-end with stakeholders ranging from developers to C-suite executives.
Trusted technical advisor capable of aligning AI initiatives with business value, ROI, and long-term platform strategy.
Ability to differentiate solutions competitively through architecture, performance, security, and lifecycle value
Experience creating and delivering technical presentations, demonstrations, proofs of concept (POC), reference architectures, whitepapers, blogs, and conference talks
Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field; Master’s degree preferred.
US Citizen

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree preferred.

Responsibilities

Technical Leadership: Act as the primary technical expert on EDGE AI and emerging technologies, offering guidance to the sales team, clients, and internal stakeholders.
Solution Architecture: Design and architect sophisticated, scalable solutions to solve critical business challenges and drive value for our clients and Wind River. Understand clearly the use cases that are applicable to each customer.
Strategic Client Engagement: Collaborate with C-level executives and senior technical leaders to align AI and emerging solutions with their strategic goals.
Advanced Demonstrations: Create and deliver advanced technical demonstrations and proofs of concept that highlight Wind River’s capabilities today and in the future.
Competitive Analysis: Create a detailed technical understanding of the market and our competition in EDGE AI and emerging technology. Resulting in being able to clearly communicate our unique value proposition.
Product Development Influence: Work closely with Product and R&D to provide market insights and client feedback, shaping the product roadmap.
Technical Sales Strategy: Help develop and implement technical sales strategies that drive value to Wind River and differentiate Wind River from the competition.
Research, design, and write requirements where required.
Generate outward-facing whitepapers, blogs, presentations and talks at conferences.
Investigate new technologies and techniques and research ongoing industry developments.