Lead Engineer, Defence - Central & Eastern Europe (m/f/d)

Job description

The Impact You'll Make Danfoss is proud to be at the forefront of driving a global transformation in digital and electric solutions that increase productivity and energy efficiency. We are truly passionate about investment, and innovation, as we continue to support our customers' journey towards a greener and lower-carbon future. We now have an exciting new opportunity for a Lead System Application Engineer to provide critical technical expertise for our expansion into the European Military and Defense market. This role is the technical backbone of the sales team, bridging the gap between complex customer requirements and the capabilities of Danfoss Power Solutions products. You will be the primary technical advisor for customers, the sales team, and internal engineering departments, ensuring that our solutions are successfully designed, integrated, and deployed in demanding Defense applications. Your focus territory will be the DACH region as well as Eastern Europe, and you might also support local SAE as required, if they’re taking care of defense customers in other EMEA countries. Please note that this role will require legal eligibility to work on Defense-related projects under national security laws. What You’ll Be Doing In this exciting new role, your responsibilities will be: Technical Solution Design: Act as the lead technical expert during the sales process. Analyze customer needs and design robust system solutions using e.g. Danfoss Power Solutions technologies (e.g., PLUS+1®). Pre-Sales Technical Support: Provide in-depth technical support to the Sales Manager and Account Manager, including preparing and delivering technical presentations, product demonstrations, and proof-of-concept projects. Application Development & Integration: Work directly with customer engineering teams to integrate Danfoss hardware and software into their vehicle and system architectures. Provide hands-on support for software development, hardware integration, and system start-up. Product Adaptation & Requirements Analysis: Identify and document technical and functional requirements specific to military applications, such as environmental hardening (shock, vibration, temperature), cybersecurity, and system redundancy (SIL/PL). Gap Analysis: Collaborate with Product Management and R&D to identify gaps in our current product portfolio and advocate for new features or product adaptations needed to meet military-grade demands. Post-Sales Support & Troubleshooting: Provide expert-level post-sales support to resolve complex technical issues in the field, ensuring customer satisfaction and system reliability. Testing & Validation: Support customers and internal teams during validation and qualification processes, including MIL-SPEC testing, conformity assessments, and performance validation. Knowledge Transfer & Training: Develop and deliver technical training programs for customers and internal stakeholders to ensure a deep understanding of Danfoss products and their application in the Defense sector. What We're Looking For We would expect you to demonstrate: University degree in a relevant engineering discipline, such as Mechatronics, Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering, or Systems Engineering, alongside relevant experience as an Application Engineer, Systems Engineer, Field Application Engineer or similar, preferably within the Defense, aerospace, automotive, or heavy-duty mobile machinery sectors. Strong, hands-on experience with control systems, embedded software development (e.g., C, CODESYS), and communication networks (e.g., CAN bus, J1939, Ethernet). Direct experience with Danfoss Power Solutions products, especially the PLUS+1® platform, is highly advantageous. Familiarity with military and industrial standards for electronics and software (e.g., MIL-STD-810, MIL-STD-461, ISO 26262, IEC 61508). Proven ability to troubleshoot complex electro-hydraulic and software-controlled systems. Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to translate customer needs into technical solutions. Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to convey complex technical information clearly and concisely. Fluent in English and German; additional European languages are a strong asset. EU citizenship or legal eligibility to work on Defense-related projects under national security laws What You'll Get from Us We promote from within and support your learning with mentoring, training, and access to global opportunities. You’ll have flexibility, autonomy, and support to do your best work while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Your well-being matters to us. We strive to create an inclusive work environment where people of all backgrounds are respected, and valued for who they are. You’ll receive benefits like annual bonus, paid vacation, pension plans, personal insurance, and more. These vary by country and contract, but they’re worth asking about—we think they’re pretty great. Ready to Make a Difference? If this role excites you, we’d love to hear from you! Apply now to start the conversation and learn more about where your career can go with us. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or other protected category.