Application Engineering Leader - Defense

Job Description Summary

The North America Defense Application Engineering Leader will lead and develop a team of application engineers supporting defense-focused programs, with primary emphasis on marine platforms, military base electrification, pulsed power systems, and Naval Research sponsored development projects.

This role is responsible for providing technical leadership across the sales project lifecycle, from requirements definition and system architecture through proposal submission, design reviews, and customer engagement.

The leader will act as a key technical interface with defense customers, prime contractors, and internal engineering, product management, and program teams to ensure solutions meet mission requirements, compliance standards, and performance objectives. The role requires balancing hands-on technical involvement with people leadership, resource planning, and capability development to support both near-term program execution and long-term technology roadmaps within the defense portfolio.

Job Description

Essential Responsibilities

• Demonstrated experience leading and developing application engineering or technical teams in a defense, naval, or industrial power environment.
• Strong technical background in electrical power systems, power electronics, or energy systems supporting marine or mission-critical applications.
• Proven experience supporting military or government programs, including requirements flow-down, compliance, and customer technical reviews.
• Ability to translate customer operational needs into system-level technical solutions and specifications.
• Experience supporting proposals, including technical inputs, solution architecture, and risk identification.
• Strong customer-facing skills with the ability to serve as the primary technical interface with defense customers and prime contractors.
• Working knowledge of relevant defense standards, qualification processes, and configuration control practices.
• Ability to manage engineering resources, priorities, and workloads across multiple concurrent programs.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to present complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Bachelors degree in electrical engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related technical discipline from an accredited institution.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive engineering experience, including application engineering, systems engineering, or power systems roles supporting complex technical programs.
• At least 3 years of experience leading technical teams, including mentoring engineers and managing technical execution across multiple projects.
• Demonstrated experience working in defense, naval, or government-funded programs, including direct interaction with customers and program stakeholders.