Principal Applications Engineer

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What Makes a Honda, is Who makes a Honda
Honda has a clear vision for the future, and it’s a joyful one. We are looking for individuals with the skills, courage, persistence, and dreams that will help us reach our future-focused goals. At our core is innovation. Honda is constantly innovating and developing solutions to drive our business with record success. We strive to be a company that serves as a source of “power” that supports people around the world who are trying to do things based on their own initiative and that helps people expand their own potential. To this end, Honda strives to realize “the joy and freedom of mobility” by developing new technologies and an innovative approach to achieve a “zero environmental footprint.”

We are looking for qualified individuals with diverse backgrounds, experiences, continuous improvement values, and a strong work ethic to join our team.

If your goals and values align with Honda’s, we want you to join our team to Bring the Future!

Job Purpose

The Applications Principal Engineer provides technical leadership for manufacturing systems, application integration, and digital transformation initiatives across development and manufacturing IT environments.
This role drives adoption of standards, reference architectures, and best practices for APIs, event-driven systems, containerization, security, and AI integration.
Working across product, architecture, infrastructure, and security teams, the engineer ensures scalable, secure, and efficient data movement while reducing technical complexity and system silos.
The position also mentors teams, guides solution design, and translates enterprise standards into practical frameworks, templates, and reusable solutions.

Key Accountabilities

Lead enterprise interface strategy and digital integration standards, including APIs, event-driven architectures, data flows, and AI-enabled solutions.
Drive adoption of container platforms such as OpenShift, CI/CD practices, and secure deployment patterns.
Define and implement security standards including authentication, authorization, data protection, and AI governance.
Establish scalable Artifical Intelligence (AI) integration approaches including LLMs, agent orchestration, MCP, RAG, and model-serving pipelines.
Guide streaming and event-driven data architectures, optimize performance and cost, and ensure seamless enterprise-to-plant connectivity.
Partner with architecture, security, infrastructure, vendors, and product teams to align solutions with business and technology objectives.

Qualifications, Experience, and Skills

Minimum educational qualifications:
- Must have a college level Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science / Computer Engineering / Data Science / Artificial Intelligence / Information Technology or a similar STEM field of study.
Minimum relevant work experience:
- Must have at least 8 years of experience in IT or software engineering, including 3 or more years in a technical leadership role.
- Strong expertise in two or more areas such as enterprise integration, API architecture, networking, OpenShift/container platforms, event-driven systems, streaming technologies, security frameworks (OAuth2, mTLS, Zero Trust), cloud/hybrid environments, or AI/ML integration.
- Proven ability to influence teams, develop technical strategy, lead cross-functional initiatives, create executive-level presentations, manage vendors, support budgeting activities, and communicate complex technical concepts effectively.
Other job-specific skills
- Strong professional communication and technical writing.
- Working knowledge of product and manufacturing systems (highly desired).
- Proven ability to deliver and evaluate management-level presentations.
- Experience in budget planning and financial stewardship.
- Vendor management and external partner coordination.
- Capability to develop and drive strategy and execution plans

Visa sponsorship issues

This position is not eligible for work visa sponsorship.

Workstyle

This is an onsite job. One remote workday per week may be possible with prior departmental approval.

What differentiates Honda and makes us an employer of choice?

Total Rewards:

Competitive Base Salary (pay will be based on several variables that include, but not limited to geographic location, work experience, etc.)
Regional Bonus (when applicable)
Manager Lease Car Program (No Cost - Car, Maintenance, and Insurance included)
Industry-leading Benefit Plans (Medical, Dental, Vision, Rx)
Paid time off, including vacation, holidays, shutdown
Company Paid Short-Term and Long-Term Disability
401K Plan with company match + additional contribution
Relocation assistance (if eligible)

Career Growth:

Advancement Opportunities
Career Mobility
Education Reimbursement for Continued learning
Training and Development Programs

Additional Offerings:

Lifestyle Account
Childcare Reimbursement Account
Elder Care Support
Tuition Assistance & Student Loan Repayment
Wellbeing Program
Community Service and Engagement Programs
Product Programs

Honda is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected factor.

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5 Questions You Should Ask During the Interview

Here are 5 questions we think you could ask during your interview. Use them as a guide to help you write your own questions.

Remember: Always have at least 5 questions prepared for the interview. If you do not, you run the risk of looking unprepared.

What does success look like in this role, and how is it measured?

Why ask this? You want to ensure you have a clear understanding of expectations before accepting the role. Knowing how success is measured helps you hit the ground running and avoid surprises about performance evaluations. It also signals to the employer that you're results-driven.

Can you describe the team dynamic and the company culture?

Why ask this? Skills and experience matter, but if the work environment isn’t a good fit, you won’t be happy or productive. This question helps you gauge whether the company values collaboration, how teams interact, and whether the culture aligns with your work style and values.

What are the biggest challenges facing the person in this role right now?

Why ask this? Every job has challenges, and it’s better to know them upfront. This helps you assess whether the role is a good fit for your strengths and whether the company is realistic about its expectations. If they hesitate to answer, it could be a red flag.

How does the company support work-life balance and employee well-being??

Why ask this? Burnout is real, and some companies expect employees to sacrifice personal time for the job. By asking this, you’ll get a sense of how they value work-life balance, flexibility, and well-being—things that are crucial for job satisfaction and long-term success.

These questions help you make an informed decision while also showing your professionalism and strategic thinking!

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