Application Engineer

Real-Time Innovations (RTI); Washington, Baltimore (District of Columbia, MD); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote working + Home Office Stipend

Flexible Paid Time Off

Annual bonus

Job summary

Real-Time Innovations (RTI) is seeking an experienced software engineer who thrives at the intersection of distributed systems, debugging, and direct customer engagement. You will design and prototype distributed systems with RTI Connext, debug across embedded environments, and review architectures with customer teams.

The role requires 7–10+ years in software or customer-facing engineering, strong C/C++ skills, Linux networking, and willingness to travel up to 35% to customer sites.

Qualifications

• 7–10+ years of software engineering or technical customer-facing experience with CS, CE, EE degree or equivalent
• Strong development and debugging skills in C and C++
• Linux, sockets, and network protocols (UDP, TCP, multicast) experience
• Proficiency with Wireshark and GDB for diagnosing issues
• Ability to explain technical trade-offs to engineers and leads
• Willing to travel 20–35% to customer sites
• U.S. Citizenship required (per govt. regulations)

Responsibilities

• Design and prototype distributed systems with RTI Connext in collaboration with customer engineers
• Debug network, performance, and concurrency issues across customer codebases and embedded environments
• Review customer architecture, configuration, and code to identify bottlenecks before deployment
• Create PoC demos and code examples for customer use cases
• Lead technical trainings and design reviews, remotely and on-site at customer facilities
• Relay field insights and feature requests back to internal teams

Skills

C and C++ development

Linux networking

Wireshark and GDB

Customer-facing engineering

Travel 20–35%

US Citizenship

RTI Connext

DDS

ROS 2

Kafka

MQTT

RTOS (VxWorks/QNX)

Java

C#

Python

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS, CE, EE, or equivalent

Tools

RTI Connext

DDS

ROS 2

Kafka

MQTT

VxWorks

QNX

Job description

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.

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.

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

How Is Life At RTI

• We have been certified as a Great Place to Work for seven consecutive years both in Spain and the US. In addition, we were listed as one of the Best Companies for Women to Advance.
• We live and work by our core values, which emphasize excellence, teamwork, and reaching your potential. Our motto is “Enjoy the journey,” above all we must enjoy what we do and have fun at work. At RTI, you will work in a positive, supportive, diverse environment with a team that truly cares about you.
• We are defined by our “Working as One” culture and truly care about team’s interaction. That is why we plan trips for teams to get together in person, enjoy fun team-building activities and events, and feel more connected.

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™. Learn more at www.rti.com.

RTI is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age status as a protected veteran, or status as a qualified individual with disability.

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