Application Engineer

About the role

From autonomous uncrewed defense systems to next-generation avionics and integrated battle management systems, RTI's software powers the world's most demanding real-time platforms. We are looking for an engineer who thrives at the intersection of distributed architecture, deep-dive systems debugging, and direct customer engagement.

As a key member of our Professional Services team, you will act as a trusted technical advisor to leading Aerospace & Defense engineering teams. You will tackle complex distributed systems challenges, optimize microsecond-level deterministic data flows, and ensure mission-critical software performs reliably when failure is not an option.

What You'll Do / Responsibilities

• Work directly with customer engineers to design and prototype distributed systems using RTI Connext.
• Debug network, performance, and concurrency bugs across customer codebases and embedded environments.
• Review customer architecture, configuration, and code to catch bottlenecks before deployment.
• Build working proof-of-concept demos and code examples for customer-specific use cases.
• Run technical training sessions and deep-dive design reviews, both remotely and on-site at customer facilities.
• Pass field insights, edge cases, and feature requests directly back to our internal teams.

What We're Looking For / Requirements

• 7-10+ years of software engineering or technical customer-facing engineering experience, with a degree in CS, CE, EE, or equivalent practical background.
• Solid development and debugging skills in C and C++.
• Strong working knowledge of Linux, sockets, and network protocols (UDP, TCP, multicast).
• Comfortable using tools like Wireshark and GDB to track down packet loss, latency spikes, or thread deadlocks.
• Able to explain technical trade-offs clearly to other engineers and project leads.
• Willing and able to travel 20-35% to customer sites.
• US Citizenship required*
• *Due to applicable laws, government regulations and contract specifications, we are required to fill this position only with an individual who qualifies as a "U.S. Citizen."

Nice To Have / Preferred Skills

• Prior experience with RTI Connext, DDS, ROS 2, or message brokers like Kafka and MQTT.
• Experience working on defense platforms, avionics, radar, or robotics.
• Familiarity with MOSA open architecture standards (such as FACE or SOSA).
• Experience using AI developer tools (like GitHub Copilot, Claude, or ChatGPT) to speed up coding, debugging, and prototyping.
• Experience with Java, C#, or Python.
• Experience with RTOS like VxWorks or QNX.
• An active U.S. security clearance.

Additional information

Don't meet every single requirement? At RTI, we are dedicated to building a fair and inclusive workplace so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't perfectly align with all qualifications in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway - especially if you have strong systems programming fundamentals, understand networking, and enjoy working directly with people! You may be just the right candidate for this or another one of our open roles. Learn more about our commitment to our workforce, here!

What We Offer You

• Flexible working schedule
• Remote working + Home Office Stipend to cover the costs of working from home
• Flexible Paid Time Off + "Real Vacation Bonus," an additional bonus for taking more than 1-week of uninterrupted vacation
• Annual bonus based on individual and company performance + other prizes and awards
• We recognize employees for their achievements, offer great opportunities for career growth and development, and provide the tools they need to succeed

What We Do

Real-Time Innovations (RTI) is the data-streaming company for intelligent distributed systems. RTI Connext® software is the critical nervous system for over 2,000 designs across Aerospace and Defense, MedTech, Automotive, and Robotics. Connext is the only real-time data streaming platform that can both control demanding physical systems and integrate them with cloud applications. RTI helps organizations develop, deploy, and scale intelligence and physical AI from edge to cloud, faster. RTI Runs a Smarter World™.

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