Lead R&D Engineer

Schneider Electric; Al Khobar; On-site; SAR 350,000 - 550,000; Full time

Job summary

Schneider Electric in Saudi Arabia seeks an experienced technical leader to design and deliver Engineered Solutions for OPA and SDA across IT/OT.

You will guide architecture, mentor engineers, and drive DevOps practices, with deep Python/C# expertise and IIoT knowledge. Join a team that shapes open, software-defined automation for edge and cloud deployments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s in CS/SE/CE or related field.
• 12+ years in engineering or R&D delivering complex solutions.
• Proven technical leadership with architecture ownership and Agile familiarity.

Responsibilities

• Lead system design and architecture for OPA, SDA, and IIoT/edge.
• Set technical direction via design reviews and mentorship.
• Oversee lab architecture, CI/CD, and infrastructure.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and present findings.

Skills

Tech leadership

System design

DevOps

Python

C#

AI tools

IIoT/edge knowledge

Education

Bachelor's in CS/SE/CE

Tools

Docker

CI/CD

Git

IaC

Windows/Linux

Virtualization

Networking

Job description

About the team

We're a global R&D / Innovation team across the Middle East, Asia, and Europe, building the next generation of Open Process Automation (OPA) and software-defined automation (SDA) solutions. We close the gap between today's automation systems and tomorrow's open, software-defined plants, turning emerging standards and technologies into solutions that matter. IT/OT convergence is at the heart of everything we build.

The Role

You'll join a team of automation and software engineering experts. You'll design and build Engineered Solutions that address technology gaps and critical customer needs. You'll work across both IT and OT systems. This is a hands-on technical lead role with no direct reports, for an engineer who loves turning bold ideas into high-impact, real-world innovations.

What You'll Do

• Set technical direction through design and code reviews, best practices, and mentoring


• Lead system design and architecture for OPA, SDA, and IIoT/edge solutions, and build them hands-on across industrial connectivity, control, edge, and IT layers


• Oversee lab architecture and infrastructure, including servers, control/edge devices, and CI/CD


• Evaluate emerging technologies and standards, and present findings to stakeholders


• Bachelor’s in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field


• 12+ years in engineering or R&D, turning emerging technologies into working solutions


• Proven technical leadership in owning the architecture and delivery of complex solutions and mentoring engineers, and familiarity with Agile practices (Scrum/Kanban)


• Strong system design (microservices, APIs, event-driven architecture, high availability, security by design) and DevOps (Docker, CI/CD, Git, IaC, Windows/Linux, virtualization, networking)


• Expert in Python or C# and comfortable with the other, writing clean, tested, maintainable code


• Proficient in AI-assisted engineering, using AI tools across design, coding, testing, and documentation


• Working knowledge of IIoT/edge technologies, including industrial protocols (OPC UA, MQTT, Modbus) and containerized workloads on resource-constrained devices


• Standards and R&D: contributing to standards bodies (e.g., Open Group, Margo, OPC Foundation), patents or publications, and conformance and multi-vendor interoperability testing


• Infrastructure and security: Active Directory, PKI/X.509 certificates, IEC 62443, monitoring (Redfish, Zabbix, Prometheus, Grafana), and orchestration (Barbara, K3s)


• Agentic and edge AI: building and deploying agents (agent SDKs, MCP, RAG) to automate engineering and business workflows, on-device inference, and LLM fine-tuning


• Industrial hardware: controllers, I/O, gateways, and edge boards; embedded Linux and serial/RS-485


• Virtualized and real-time control: containerized control runtimes, real-time Linux, and TSN

Rewards designed for you

Our Total Rewards is our way of saying: We see you and we value you. It’s more than just pay and benefits—it’s a meaningful investment in you. It is designed to help you perform, grow, feel safe, and elevate your potential. The package helps you care for yourself and your family, plan your future, grow your skills and career, collaborate in an inclusive workplace, and contribute to your community. At Schneider Electric, we’re here for what matters most to you. Discover more at our Career Page.

• Country-specific programs and initiatives may be available.

Looking to make an IMPACT with your career?

When you are thinking about joining a new team, culture matters. At Schneider Electric, our values and behaviors are the foundation for creating a great culture to support business success. We believe that our IMPACT values – Inclusion, Mastery, Purpose, Action, Curiosity, Teamwork – starts with us.

IMPACT is also your invitation to join Schneider Electric where you can contribute to turning sustainability ambition into actions, no matter what role you play. It is a call to connect your career with the ambition of achieving a more resilient, efficient, and sustainable world.

We are looking for IMPACT Makers; exceptional people who turn sustainability ambitions into actions at the intersection of automation, electrification, and digitization. We celebrate IMPACT Makers and believe everyone has the potential to be one.

€40 billion global revenue

+9% organic growth

150 000+ employees in 100+ countries

Schneider Electric aspires to be the most inclusive and caring company in the world, by providing equitable opportunities to everyone, everywhere, and ensuring all employees feel uniquely valued and safe to contribute their best. We mirror the diversity of the communities in which we operate, and ‘inclusion’ is one of our core values. We believe our differences make us stronger as a company and as individuals and we are committed to championing inclusivity in everything we do.

At Schneider Electric, we uphold the highest standards of ethics and compliance, and we believe that trust is a foundational value. Our Trust Charter is our Code of Conduct and demonstrates our commitment to ethics, safety, sustainability, quality and cybersecurity, underpinning every aspect of our business and our willingness to behave and respond respectfully and in good faith to all our stakeholders.

Schneider Electric is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It is our policy to provide equal employment and advancement opportunities in the areas of recruiting, hiring, training, transferring, and promoting all qualified individuals regardless of race, religion, color, gender, disability, national origin, ancestry, age, military status, sexual orientation, marital status, or any other legally protected characteristic or conduct.