Application Engineer

Location: Oostrum

Do you enjoy translating complex OEM requirements into clear system architectures and practical vehicle integration solutions? And would you like to technically lead innovative solar mobility projects, guiding customers from first concept to successful vehicle integration?
Join us on our mission!

Summary
Where:
De Amfoor 2 in Venray
Domain:
Applications

Experience:

3-5 years of relevant experience in a similar role
Degree: BSc or MSc in Automotive Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related technical field

Working at Lightyear is a unique experience. You get the opportunity to work for a company with a pure and meaningful mission. A mission that will make a positive and lasting impact on future generations.

At Lightyear we are working on a family of power converters to convert solar energy from PV panels on vehicles to their batteries. The converter range consists of LV variants, HV variants and a multi-port variant that is able to convert energy from multiple solar panels to both LV and HV batteries. By intelligently combining several functions, this topology allows for a reduction in component count and improvement in efficiency.

What will you do as an Application Engineer?
As Application Engineer, you are the technical bridge between our OEM customers and Lightyear’s product-development teams. From the moment an interested OEM starts exploring a project with us, you become their main technical point of contact. You learn how their vehicle, physical PV integration, electrical architecture and way of working work, help them understand the capabilities and potential of our technology, and jointly shape an application that fits both their needs and Lightyear’s product direction.

You technically lead assigned OEM projects. You define the system architecture, requirements, interfaces, validation approach and project execution together with the customer and our internal specialists. You translate OEM needs into clear development inputs, coordinate technical execution and make sure customer expectations remain aligned with engineering priorities, and agreed project boundaries. But at the same time this is also new technology, that most OEM’s work with for the first time.

You should also really help them understand the potential, understand the difficulties, and help them make the right decisions as well along the way.

This is a broad and hands‑on role in a small, entrepreneurial team. One day you may present an architecture to an OEM engineering team; the next, you may build a test harness, analyse CAN communication or debug the first vehicle integration. You will run technical meetings, create clear architecture and project documentation, support internal development work, and bring customer insights back into Engineering.

Your work allows our core development teams to stay focused on the technology roadmap while OEM projects receive strong, independent technical guidance.

A day as an Application Engineer
Your day combines customer communication, systems thinking, documentation and practical engineering. You might start with a weekly technical meeting with an OEM, discussing an interface question or reviewing the progress of a vehicle integration. You clarify what the customer wants from the solar-powered proof-of-concept vehicle they have in mind, help define the physical PV layout and recommend an electrical architecture, while explaining what our off-the-shelf technology can already do for them.

You consider aspects such as available roof or body surfaces, module and string layout, shading and packaging constraints, and go into detail on the energy-management strategies that will need to be developed together with the OEM for seamless integration.

Later, you work with our electronics and software engineers to assess how the requested application fits our existing products and development roadmap. You update the system architecture, interface definitions, validation plan or project documentation, and make sure technical decisions are understood on both sides. Where customer requests conflict with product constraints or engineering priorities, you make the trade-offs…