Lead, Forward Deployed Engineer

3 to 8+ years of hands-on engineering or technician experience on real hardware, ideally on systems that left the lab

Generalist depth across at least two of: mechanical, electrical, embedded software, integration

Hands-on troubleshooting skills with scope, multimeter, basic shop tools, and command line

Comfortable presenting and operating in front of customers, including military operators

Travel-ready and physically able to support field deployments including range conditions and equipment handling

Where you probably come from: Field service or test engineering at defense or aerospace companies, integration roles at hardware startups, military maintenance or test trades, motorsports or robotics field teams, or any program where you owned a system at the test site.

We want to talk if: Y ou've stood next to a piece of hardware in front of a customer when something failed and brought it back online. You're comfortable being the only engineer on site. You don't lose your composure when the system does.

Not a fit if: Your experience is lab-only with no field exposure, you've never owned a customer-facing demo, or you need a full team to debug a problem.

Military service or close exposure to military operating environments

Counter-UAS, directed energy, or air defense experience

ROS2 or robotics field integration experience

Active TS/SCI clearance or eligibility

Welding, machining, or fabrication shop skills

AA, BS, MS, or PhD. No specific degree required. Trade school, military training, or engineering degree all welcome. What you've fielded matters more than where you went to school.

Extreme bias for action.

Calm under pressure. The customer doesn't see the panic; they see the fix

You characterize your own systems before the field does

Comfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration in a startup environment

Clear communicator across operators, engineers, and customers

Self directed. You identify what needs to happen next and do it without being told

Build more in 1 month than most engineers build in 1 year. We field test weekly. Your work goes downrange, not into a filing cabinet.

Career velocity is real. At ~10 engineers, there are no layers between you and impact.

Work on a problem that actually matters. Small cheap drones are changing warfare. Our laser systems are the asymmetric answer — infinite magazine, near zero cost per shot, scalable to every base, border, facility, and truck.

Join the densest defense startup ecosystem in the country. California is where the next generation of defense companies are being built.

Core hours are Monday through Friday, 9 to 6. When we're sprinting toward a demo or field test, the team ramps up — nights, weekends, whatever it takes to ship. When the sprint lands, we ramp down. We don't manufacture intensity for show.

This role requires access to export-controlled information or items that require "U.S. Person" status. As defined by U.S. law, individuals who are any one of the following are considered to be a "U.S. Person": (1) U.S. citizens, (2) legal permanent residents (a.k.a. green card holders), and (3) certain protected classes of asylees and refugees, as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).