Lead Solutions Engineer Cognitive Infrastructure

Aperio Global

Full Timelead Hybrid

CHANTILLY VA / Hybrid Posted Yesterday

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GoAWSAzure

Job Description

<div class="content-intro"> How We're Different We believe the highest-impact work in national security and technology is a team sport. At Aperio Global, we operate as a single, cohesive force aligned on a handful of mission-critical efforts where our work truly moves the needle. We don't chase small wins. We solve for next. We view the intersection of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and data analytics as an empirical discipline as rigorous and consequential as any field in science or engineering. That means we bring intellectual honesty, accountability, and transparency to every problem we take on. Our team includes tech innovators, Intelligence Community veterans, and security professionals who know that the best solutions come from diverse minds working toward a common mission. We value our people, those working quietly behind the scenes, doing the hard work that keeps our nation secure. The best way to understand how we think is to see what we've built. From full-spectrum cyber operations and de-biased AI platforms to quantum networking and cloud-native software systems, our work speaks for itself. Come solve with us We offer competitive compensation and a comprehensive benefits package — including medical, dental, and vision coverage, a 401(k) retirement plan, life insurance, generous paid time off, short and long-term disability, professional development, and much more. We invest in our people because they are our most important asset — and because the mission demands the best. </div> Lead Solutions Engineer — Cognitive Infrastructure Cognitive Layer Framework | Federal + Commercial Markets Location: Washington, D.C. metro preferred; hybrid acceptable Reports To: CEO / COO, with coordination across Engineering, Product, Growth, and Strategic Partnerships Role Type: Full-time preferred; interim or fractional engagement acceptable for an initial 60–90 day operating phase About Aperio Global Aperio Global is building cognitive infrastructure for high-consequence environments. We help customers move from fragmented data, technical complexity, and operational uncertainty toward trusted insight, faster understanding, and confident action. Aperio’s Cognitive Layer Framework connects data, security, governance, explainability, and mission context through productized Intelligence Nodes, including Spatial, Cognitive, and Environmental capabilities. Our current solution areas include Reality Engine, NLYTEN, CipherIQ, and HelioShield. Together, these capabilities help customers understand physical environments, fuse and secure complex data, improve decision workflows, and anticipate environmental risk. Aperio is not positioning itself as a traditional services contractor or generic AI company. We are building repeatable, scalable, partner-enabled solutions for federal, defense, space, homeland security, commercial, cultural, infrastructure, and strategic-industry customers. Position Summary: 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. Mission of the Role: 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. Core Responsibilities: 1. Customer Technical Discovery Lead or support technical discovery conversations with federal, defense, space, commercial, cultural, sports, infrastructure, and strategic-industry customers. Responsibilities include: •    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. 2. Technical-to-Commercial Translation Convert Aperio’s technical architecture into language that customers, partners, operators, executives, and procurement teams can understand. The Lead Solutions Engineer must be able to clearly explain: •    What Cognitive Infrastructure means. •    What the Cognitive Layer Framework does. •    How Spatial, Cognitive, and Environmental Intelligence Nodes differ. •    What Reality Engine, NLYTEN, CipherIQ, and HelioShield do. •    What a customer receives in a pilot. •    What is configurable versus custom. •    What Aperio needs from the customer. •    What success looks like. •    How a pilot can convert into an operational deployment. The role requires plain-English clarity, technical accuracy, and commercial judgment. 3. Pilot and Package Design Design structured pilot packages that prevent custom-work drift and support repeatable revenue. For each qualified opportunity, the Lead Solutions Engineer should help define: •    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. •    Conversion path after pilot. Every active pilot should have a named owner, defined conversion path, explicit success criteria, and clear stop/go decision point. 4. Demo Development and Delivery Own the structure, quality, and repeatability of customer-facing demos. Responsibilities include: •    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. A successful demo should do four things: Define the customer problem. Show Aperio’s solution path. Clarify what comes next. Close with a specific action. 5. Partner Enablement: Dell, NVIDIA, Carahsoft, SandboxAQ, and Strategic Channels Support Aperio’s partner-enabled scale motion by creating the technical clarity partners need to sell, validate, and support customer adoption. The Lead Solutions Engineer will 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. •    Partner-ready language for pilots, packages, and deployment paths. This role helps ensure partners can understand Aperio, explain Aperio, and move Aperio opportunities forward without creating confusion or overpromising. 6. Procurement and SOW Support The Lead Solutions Engineer does not own contracts, but must support procurement conversion. Responsibilities include: •    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. Every serious opportunity must answer: How does the customer actually buy this? 7. Pricing and Scope Discipline Support leadership in applying pricing and packaging guardrails. Responsibilities include: •    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. This role is central to helping Aperio move from relationship momentum to repeatable, productized revenue. Required Capabilities: Technical Fluency-  understand or be able to quickly learn: •    AI / ML systems. •    Data fusion and decision-support workflows. •    Cybersecurity, Zero Trust, data security, and cryptologic assurance concepts. •    Cloud, edge, hybrid, and air-gapped deployment considerations. •    NVIDIA-accelerated workflows. •    Dell infrastructure, AI Factory, and edge-to-enterprise concepts. •    Federal mission environments. •    Data governance, data pedigree, explainability, and secure data handling. •    3D/spatial workflows, Gaussian splatting, digital twins, or reality capture — preferred. •    Space, defense, DHS, intelligence, or critical infrastructure environments — preferred. Commercial Fluency: Must be able to: •    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. Communication Style: Must be clear, direct, disciplined, and practical. Be able to explain Aperio simply: Aperio builds cognitive infrastructure — the layer between complex data and confident action. Must 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. Required Experience: 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. Preferred but not required: •    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. Key Deliverables: Within the first 30 days, as the Lead Solutions Engineer should produce: 1.    Aperio Technical Discovery Checklist A structured checklist for customer meetings across Spatial, Cognitive, and Environmental Intelligence opportunities. 2.    Node-Level Demo Scripts Repeatable demo scripts for Reality Engine, NLYTEN + CipherIQ, and HelioShield. 3.    Pilot Scoping Template A standard template covering problem, scope, timeline, data needs, success criteria, price band, dependencies, and next step. 4.    Customer-Facing Technical FAQ Simple, credible answers to common buyer and partner questions. 5.    Partner Enablement Packet Dell/NVIDIA/Carahsoft-ready explanation of Aperio’s first transactable packages. 6.    Opportunity Technical Assessment Matrix A green/yellow/red assessment model for feasibility, buyer clarity, procurement path, scope risk, and conversion potential. First 90-Day Success Metrics: By day 90, you should have helped Aperio achieve: •    Every qualified opportunity has a defined technical scope. •    Every active pilot has success criteria and a conversion path. •    Every customer-facing demo has a script and specific next-step ask. •    Every major opportunity has a procurement path identified or under active discovery. •    Reality Engine, NLYTEN + CipherIQ, and HelioShield have customer-ready package descriptions. •    Dell/NVIDIA/Carahsoft partner materials are technically credible and commercially clean. •    CEO dependency in technical sales conversations is reduced. •    Custom requests are filtered through package discipline. •    Pricing inputs are consistent across opportunities. •    At least one opportunity advances from interest to scoped pilot or from pilot to operational pursuit. This role is not: •    A pure salesperson. •    A proposal writer. •    A demo operator only. •    A senior engineer doing unpaid customer customization. •    A product manager in disguise. •    A technical founder substitute. •    A person who says yes to every customer request. •    A person who lets advisors, partners, or customers define Aperio’s scope for Aperio.<div class="content-conclusion"><h2 id="job-benefits-title">Benefits</h2> <div> At Aperio Global, we understand the value of investing in our most important asset—our employees. That's why we have crafted a comprehensive benefits package designed to help you make the best decision for yourself, your family and your lifestyle. For additional details, contact our talent acquisition team. <ul> <li>Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)</li> <li>Retirement Plan (401k, IRA) with 100% employer match up to 6%</li> <li>Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)</li> <li>Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)</li> <li>Short Term & Long Term Disability</li> <li>Professional Development</li> <li>(and much more)</li> </ul> </div> Aperio Global is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building an inclusive workforce where all employees and applicants are treated with respect and fairness. Employment decisions are based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs — never on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, military or veteran status, pregnancy/childbirth, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, ethnicity, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.</div>