[6424] Senior Solution Engineer

Start date: Negotiable
Clearance: NATO Secret
Location: Braine-l'Alleud, Wallonia, Belgium

Requirements
• University degree in Systems Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Computer Science or another relevant discipline.
• 10 years of relevant professional engineering experience, including significant experience with complex ICT/CIS, defence, aerospace, telecommunications or other highly integrated technical systems.
• Experience in Systems Engineering and/or Solution Architecture applied to complex systems.
• Professional working proficiency in English, including the ability to produce and review complex technical documentation.
• Significant experience in the architecture, design, integration, verification or lifecycle management of complex systems involving multiple technical domains.
• Ability to translate operational or business needs into system requirements, architectures and implementable technical solutions.
• Experience defining and managing system boundaries, functional decomposition, interfaces, dependencies, constraints and non-functional requirements.
• Experience as a Technical Lead, Lead Systems Engineer, Solution Architect, System Architect or equivalent senior engineering role.
• Experience technically coordinating multidisciplinary engineering teams and SMEs.
• Ability to provide clear technical direction and resolve technical disagreements across organisational and technical boundaries.
• Significant experience integrating systems composed of multiple technologies, products or engineering disciplines.
• Strong understanding of system interfaces, dependencies and emergent behaviour.
• Experience planning or supporting system integration, verification, validation and acceptance activities.
• Demonstrated ability to perform structured root-cause analysis.
• Experience supporting complex systems after transition into operational service.
• Understanding of design authority, configuration management, change management, obsolescence, technology refresh, technical debt, operational support and system evolution.
• Experience assessing the system-level impact of changes to individual components, subsystems or services.
• Broad technical understanding across ICT/CIS domains rather than specialist knowledge limited to one technology.
• Strong knowledge of several of the following: IP networking and routing, LAN/WAN architectures, network security and firewalls, compute and server infrastructure, virtualisation and hyperconverged infrastructure, storage, identity and access management, cybersecurity architectures, enterprise and infrastructure services, cloud and hybrid-cloud technologies, automation and orchestration, monitoring and management systems, telecommunications, SATCOM/radio communications, and deployable or mobile ICT infrastructure.
• Strong understanding of requirements engineering, including functional and non-functional requirements.
• Ability to decompose complex systems into manageable subsystems and components while maintaining an end-to-end system perspective.
• Strong understanding of interfaces and Interface Control.
• Experience with requirements traceability from operational need through implementation and verification.
• Understanding of the distinction between architecture and detailed design and the allocation of responsibilities between system-level and domain engineers.
• Experience performing engineering trade-off analyses.
• Experience applying Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) throughout the engineering lifecycle.

Desirable
• Experience with DCIS Node, Module and Service taxonomies.
• Experience with modular systems engineering frameworks, Requirement Models, Implementation Guidelines and Implementation Constraints.
• Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code, automation and orchestration.
• Experience with defence or NATO technical architectures and interoperability requirements.

Duties & Role
• Analyse operational, functional and project requirements and translate them into implementable DCIS solutions.
• Define overall technical solutions and system architectures using established DCIS Node, Module and Service taxonomies.
• Ensure systems deliver the required end-to-end functionality and emergent behaviour.
• Perform technical trade-off analyses covering performance, interoperability, security, deployability, resilience, maintainability, cost, schedule and technological maturity.
• Apply MBSE throughout the engineering lifecycle.
• Map project requirements against existing Requirement Models, Implementation Guidelines and Implementation Constraints.
• Maximise reuse of approved Modules, Services, architectures and engineering patterns.
• Identify gaps where existing Requirement Models or standardised building blocks cannot satisfy project requirements.
• Act as the Complex Systems Product Owner for designated operational Nodes.
• Maintain technical ownership and system-level design responsibility for assigned Nodes throughout their lifecycle.
• Maintain an authoritative understanding of Node architecture, configuration, interfaces, dependencies, capabilities and design constraints.
• Ensure modifications to individual Modules or Services do not compromise overall system coherence, interoperability, performance, security or operational capability.
• Assess operational technical issues from an end-to-end system perspective and coordinate their resolution with relevant SMEs, Model Custodians and service organisations.
• Analyse change requests, obsolescence issues, technology refreshes, security changes and evolving operational requirements to determine their impact on complete Nodes.
• Define and maintain technical evolution paths and Node roadmaps, aligned with Module and Service roadmaps and the wider DCIS Target Architecture.
• Identify technical debt, architectural divergence, lifecycle risks and emerging obsolescence before they become operational constraints.
• Initiate or recommend engineering activities required to maintain the technical viability of operational Nodes.
• Provide system-level technical guidance to operations, maintenance and service-management organisations.
• Ensure operational experience and lessons identified are fed back into the Modularity Framework, Requirement Models and future system designs.
• Maintain consistency between as-designed, as-built and as-operated technical baselines.
• Support configuration and change-control processes by assessing the system-level impact of proposed changes.
• Integrate engineering contributions across DCIS technical domains, including networking, communications, SATCOM, radio, infrastructure, compute, virtualisation, cloud, storage, data services, cybersecurity, identity and access management, automation and deployable infrastructure.
• Act as the primary technical focal point for assigned projects and operational Nodes.
• Coordinate engineering contributions from different technical domains.
• Translate system-level requirements and operational issues into clear engineering tasks and technical questions for relevant SMEs and Model Custodians.
• Integrate outputs from different engineering disciplines into a single coherent solution.
• Identify conflicting requirements, assumptions and design decisions and drive their technical resolution.