Lead Solutions Engineer Cognitive Infrastructure

Aperio Global • Chantilly, VA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

Aperio Global is seeking a Lead Solutions Engineer — Cognitive Infrastructure to help turn complex technical capability into buyer confidence, scoped pilots, packaged offerings, and executable procurement paths. This is not a demo-only role. This is a conversion role. The Lead Solutions Engineer will sit at the intersection of technical architecture, customer discovery, sales support, packaging, pricing, partner enablement, and procurement readiness. The right person will help Aperio translate customer problems into clear use cases, technical scopes, demo flows, pilot packages, pricing inputs, and next-step actions. Must be technically credible, commercially disciplined, comfortable with senior buyers, and able to explain advanced technologies without hiding behind jargon. The mission is simple: Turn customer interest into scoped, priced, transactable opportunities. The Lead Solutions Engineer exists to answer one core question: How does Aperio turn a customer’s mission problem into a technically credible, productized, priced, and transactable solution? This role is designed to help Aperio avoid becoming too custom, too CEO-dependent, too technically abstract, or too loose in follow-up. The Lead Solutions Engineer will bring structure, clarity, and discipline to how Aperio presents, scopes, packages, and advances opportunities.

Requirements

• Understand or be able to quickly learn AI / ML systems.
• Understand or be able to quickly learn Data fusion and decision-support workflows.
• Understand or be able to quickly learn Cybersecurity, Zero Trust, data security, and cryptologic assurance concepts.
• Understand or be able to quickly learn Cloud, edge, hybrid, and air-gapped deployment considerations.
• Understand or be able to quickly learn NVIDIA-accelerated workflows.
• Understand or be able to quickly learn Dell infrastructure, AI Factory, and edge-to-enterprise concepts.
• Understand or be able to quickly learn Federal mission environments.
• Understand or be able to quickly learn Data governance, data pedigree, explainability, and secure data handling.
• Speak credibly with C-suite leaders, program executives, technical buyers, and operators.
• Translate technical architecture into customer value.
• Support account owners without taking over the account.
• Recognize when a buyer is serious versus merely interested.
• Support pricing and packaging conversations.
• Keep meetings focused on next steps.
• Build repeatable customer-facing artifacts.
• Understand how technical interest becomes funded action.
• Be clear, direct, disciplined, and practical.
• Be able to explain Aperio simply: Aperio builds cognitive infrastructure — the layer between complex data and confident action.
• Be able to explain the core nodes simply: Reality Engine helps customers understand physical environments. NLYTEN and CipherIQ help customers trust, fuse, secure, and act on complex data. HelioShield helps customers understand environmental conditions that affect mission readiness and risk.
• 7–12+ years of experience across some combination of: Solutions engineering, Technical sales, Federal systems engineering, AI, data, cyber, or solution architecture, Defense, intelligence, DHS, space, or critical infrastructure markets, Product management or technical program management, Pre-sales engineering for enterprise or government technology, Partner/channel enablement with major OEMs, integrators, or technology platforms.

Nice To Haves

• 3D/spatial workflows, Gaussian splatting, digital twins, or reality capture
• Space, defense, DHS, intelligence, or critical infrastructure environments
• Experience with Dell, NVIDIA, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Carahsoft, GSA, SEWP, SBIR, OTA, or federal acquisition channels.
• Experience supporting pilots that convert into operational programs.
• Experience creating technical decks, white papers, architecture diagrams, demo scripts, and SOW inputs.
• Familiarity with AI infrastructure, data security, post-quantum security, digital twins, spatial intelligence, or environmental intelligence.

Responsibilities

• Lead or support technical discovery conversations with federal, defense, space, commercial, cultural, sports, infrastructure, and strategic-industry customers.
• Understand the customer’s mission problem, operational environment, data constraints, and decision workflow.
• Identify the best-fit Aperio capability or node, including Reality Engine, NLYTEN, CipherIQ, HelioShield, or broader Cognitive Layer Framework offerings.
• Ask disciplined questions about data sources, users, workflows, hosting, security, integrations, success criteria, timelines, budget, and procurement.
• Determine whether an opportunity reflects a real buyer problem or technical curiosity.
• Translate ambiguous interest into a defined use case.
• Support account owners and advisors by creating structure around next steps.
• Convert Aperio’s technical architecture into language that customers, partners, operators, executives, and procurement teams can understand.
• Clearly explain what Cognitive Infrastructure means, what the Cognitive Layer Framework does, how Spatial, Cognitive, and Environmental Intelligence Nodes differ, and what Reality Engine, NLYTEN, CipherIQ, and HelioShield do.
• Explain what a customer receives in a pilot, what is configurable versus custom, what Aperio needs from the customer, what success looks like, and how a pilot can convert into an operational deployment.
• Design structured pilot packages that prevent custom-work drift and support repeatable revenue.
• Define for each qualified opportunity: Customer problem, Use case, Node or capability fit, Technical scope, Data requirements, Integration requirements, User workflow, Deployment model, Security and hosting assumptions, Timeline, Success criteria, Out-of-scope items, Pricing inputs, Procurement path, and Conversion path after pilot.
• Ensure every active pilot has a named owner, defined conversion path, explicit success criteria, and clear stop/go decision point.
• Own the structure, quality, and repeatability of customer-facing demos.
• Build demo scripts by buyer type and use case.
• Support executive briefings with technical credibility.
• Prepare technical walkthroughs for Dell, NVIDIA, Carahsoft, federal buyers, commercial CEOs, and strategic partners.
• Make demos repeatable, not bespoke theater.
• Ensure demos show the customer workflow, not just the technology.
• Explain what is real today, what is configurable, and what requires additional development.
• Capture customer reactions and translate them into next-step actions.
• Support Aperio’s partner-enabled scale motion by creating the technical clarity partners need to sell, validate, and support customer adoption.
• Help develop Dell/NVIDIA technical validation packages, GB10, DGX, edge, hybrid, and AI Factory deployment narratives, Carahsoft-ready product descriptions, seller enablement one-pagers, demo videos and technical walkthroughs, technical FAQs, BOM inputs and infrastructure assumptions, A-SKU / OES readiness support, customer-facing architecture diagrams, and partner-ready language for pilots, packages, and deployment paths.
• Provide technical scope for SOWs.
• Help define deliverables.
• Support pricing rationale.
• Clarify hosting, security, integration, and support boundaries.
• Identify dependencies, assumptions, and customer responsibilities.
• Support buying paths through Carahsoft, Dell, GSA, SEWP-style vehicles, OTA, SBIR, direct commercial, and partner-led channels.
• Help prevent vague proposals that create unclear delivery obligations.
• Support leadership in applying pricing and packaging guardrails.
• Map opportunities to Pilot, Operational, or Enterprise packages.
• Identify technical scope drivers that affect price.
• Flag custom requests that may damage margin or repeatability.
• Support internal pricing discussions with technical assumptions.
• Prevent free technical labor from replacing structured pilots.
• Ensure technical commitments match contract value.
• Help protect Aperio from unpaid customization and undefined delivery risk.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Life insurance
• Generous paid time off
• Short and long-term disability
• Professional development

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed