Professional Services - Sr. Solutions Engineer (SE) for Embedded Systems

Aptiv•Washington, DC

21h•Onsite

About The Position

The Professional Services – Sr. Solutions Engineer (SE) is a hands-on, customer-facing technical expert responsible for enabling mission-critical programs built on Wind River platforms and related technologies across cloud, edge, and on-premise environments. You will operate at the intersection of systems engineering, architecture, integration, and technical consulting — guiding customers from early solution design through deployment and operationalization. In this role, you will serve as a trusted advisor and technical leader who can work independently on-site with customers, diagnose complex cross-domain issues, and drive successful outcomes with minimal reliance on home-office support. This is a high-impact position supporting aerospace, defense, intelligence, and other national security programs. At this senior level, you will take ownership of complex initiatives and act as the technical lead for customer engagements, ensuring solutions are delivered effectively and aligned to mission objectives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical field.
5 years minimum with 10+ years preferred of professional experience in systems engineering, platform engineering, cloud or infrastructure architecture, or software development in complex technical environments.
Experience working with operating systems, virtualization technologies, cloud-native platforms, or distributed systems across enterprise, edge, or mission environments.
Proficiency in one or more programming or scripting languages (such as C/C++, Python, Go, Java, or similar); experience with automation and infrastructure-as-code tools is a plus.
Experience with Linux or other enterprise operating systems; familiarity with real-time or embedded environments is beneficial but not required.
Prior experience supporting customers as a field engineer, systems engineer, solutions engineer, architect, or technical consultant.
Strong understanding of core system concepts including networking, memory management, process scheduling, virtualization, containerization, and distributed application architectures.
Experience with software lifecycle and collaboration tools such as Git, JIRA, CI/CD pipelines, or similar platforms.
Understanding of cybersecurity principles, secure configuration, and vulnerability management in enterprise or mission-critical environments.
Excellent English communication skills, with the ability to convey complex technical concepts clearly to diverse technical and non-technical audiences.
Strong troubleshooting and debugging skills across software, infrastructure, and platform layers.
Ability to travel and support on-site work independently.
U.S. citizenship required; active security clearance preferred.
Successful candidates must engage in a security clearance process in regard to their citizenship in order to perform fundamental job duties, as per applicable law. In particular, candidates with certain citizenship may not be able to perform such fundamental job duties. Currently, this includes citizens of the following countries: Belarus; Burma; China; Cuba; Iran; North Korea; Syria; Venezuela; Afghanistan; Cambodia; Central African Republic; Cyprus; Democratic Republic of Congo; Ethiopia; Eritrea; Haiti; Iraq; Lebanon; Libya; Russia; Somalia; South Sudan; Sudan; Zimbabwe.
The security clearance process may take a significant amount of time to complete, and any offer of employment will be contingent on the candidate's legal ability to perform the fundamental job duties.

Nice To Haves

Broad technical understanding of operating systems, virtualization, cloud-native platforms, edge computing, and distributed architectures.
Ability to quickly develop expertise across the Wind River product portfolio and associated toolchains, applying solutions to diverse customer environments
Strong hands-on troubleshooting and integration skills across multiple technology layers, including software, infrastructure, networking, and platform services
Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to serve as a trusted technical advisor to senior engineering and program teams.
Ability to work autonomously at customer sites with minimal remote support while maintaining alignment with internal teams.
Proven ability to build credibility with customers and navigate dynamic or fast-paced defense and mission-critical environments.

Responsibilities

Customer Engagement: Serve as the primary technical point of contact for customers, driving requirements gathering, architecture definition, and end-to-end solution delivery across the Wind River portfolio, including cloud, edge, virtualization, and platform technologies.
Advanced Troubleshooting: Diagnose and resolve sophisticated technical issues across operating systems, cloud-native platforms, virtualization environments, networking, and distributed systems, providing expert guidance to customers and internal teams.
Solution Development & Integration: Design, implement, and integrate software components, automation frameworks, and system architectures spanning cloud, edge, and on-premise environments.
Mentorship: Provide technical leadership and mentoring to engineers and customer teams, fostering a culture of excellence, knowledge sharing, and continuous learning.
Security and Maintenance: Proactively identify and address security vulnerabilities, ensuring solutions align with industry standards, compliance requirements, and secure-by-design principles.
Collaboration: Work closely with field engineers, premium support, product management, and R&D teams to deliver cohesive, high-quality customer outcomes.
Defect Management: Prioritize and drive resolution of internal and customer-reported issues, coordinating across engineering and support organizations as needed.
Technical Advocacy & Innovation: Represent the organization in technical communities, customer forums, and partner engagements, contributing to innovation and adoption of modern architectures and best practices.
Performance & System Optimization: Optimize system performance, scalability, and reliability across cloud, edge, and hybrid environments, leveraging deep knowledge of operating systems, infrastructure, and distributed application behavior.