> AI agents: this is one page of Nextmove’s FDE site, in Markdown. Nextmove is a job board and free career service for forward deployed engineers (FDEs). Each posting is classified from its text, not its title: the kind of work, how much of it is production code, pre-sales weight, time at customer sites, travel, remote arrangement, level and posted base pay. The site also publishes the aggregates: median pay by level, metro, company and kind of work, and which companies started hiring FDEs each week. Every page under https://nextmove.md/fde is served this way; the index of pages is https://nextmove.md/llms.txt. # Principal Solutions Architect Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/444496c89587b436 Noble Machines posts a principal FDE role to build what the customer runs in Sunnyvale, CA, at $200,000–$350,000 base, above the staff+ FDE median of $225,000 across 388 postings with pay. Leads customer-facing deployments of Moby, Noble Machines’ general-purpose robot, from workflow discovery and solution design through production and ongoing improvement. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [Noble Machines](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/noble-machines) Posted Oct 21, 2026 by Noble Machines · open on Greenhouse as of Nov 8, 2026 **$200,000–$350,000** + equity Sunnyvale, CA Leads customer-facing deployments of Moby, Noble Machines’ general-purpose robot, from workflow discovery and solution design through production and ongoing improvement. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F444496c89587b436&placement=top) - [View posting at Noble Machines](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/undercontrolroboticsinc/jobs/4462555009) Free. Upload your resume once, see why each FDE role fits, and get introduced only when you say so. ## At a glance ### Posted base pay $200K–$350K Above the median Midpoint $275K · median $225K This job $200K to $350K. Staff+ FDE postings, 388 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $197K to $262K, median $225K. ### The work Builds what the customer runs Balance **Mixed** Project stages 1. Pre-sales 2. Proof of concept 3. Implementation 4. Operations Travel **Required, amount not stated** - **Coding**: Configuration only - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Staff+ - **Role**: Technical lead ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting reads as a staff-level role. What level are you at now? The job is in Sunnyvale, CA. Could you work there? Which of these have you used in production? Answer each one. Nothing is saved or sent. [What postings ask for, by background →](https://nextmove.md/fde/paths) ## Conditions - **Location**: Sunnyvale, CA - **Remote work restrictions**: Work on-site in Sunnyvale regularly; alternative U.S. locations may be considered individually. - **Travel**: Travel required, amount not stated - **Pay**: ## More like this [Uniphore](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/uniphore) ### [Principal Data Architect, Forward Deployed Engineering](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/3f127121235bfadb) Palo Alto, CA 4w ago $232,900–$291,100 [Docker, Inc](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/docker-inc) ### [Principal Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/b6d3e67e51b2bef4) San Francisco, CA Remote 4w ago $198,000–$319,000/mo [Decagon](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/decagon) ### [Engineering Lead, Strategic Deployments](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/55e8a726e8f37fe4) San Francisco, CA On-site 3mo ago $200,000–$400,000 - [Other jobs at Noble Machines (1)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/noble-machines) ## The job description from Noble Machines Posted by Noble Machines on Oct 21, 2026 ### Principal Solutions Architect, Physical AI & Robotics Deployment ### About Noble Machines Noble Machines builds multipurpose robots to support human workers in the world's toughest jobs—turning dangerous work from a necessity into a choice. Our work demands reliability, robustness, and readiness for the unexpected—on time, every time. We're assembling a mission-driven team focused on delivering real impact in heavy industry, from construction and mining to energy. If you're driven to build rugged, reliable products that solve real-world problems, we'd love to talk. ### About the Role We're looking for a Principal Solutions Architect to help customers put Moby, our general-purpose robot, to work in their operations. You'll turn customer needs into achievable applications, customize and integrate the platform, and lead deployments from discovery through production and long-term adoption. This is a customer-facing, high-ownership role that connects Engineering, Product, Sales, and Customer Success. You'll need a practical understanding of robotic perception, learning, and autonomous action, and the ability to explain capabilities, limitations, and deployment decisions clearly to engineers and executives alike. You might come from robotics deployment, application engineering, autonomy, systems integration, or solutions architecture. Formal pre-sales experience matters less than proven ownership of real robot deployments and strong communication skills. As Noble Machines grows, this role can expand into building and leading an Application Engineering team. ### What You'll Do - **Lead discovery and solution design.** Learn customer workflows, operating environments, constraints, and business goals, and assess where Moby fits and what customization and integration it needs. - **Architect the deployment.** Develop solution architectures, deployment plans, technical success criteria, and risk assessments. - **Set clear expectations.** Present technical concepts, demos, and recommendations to engineering teams and executive stakeholders, and be candid about platform capabilities and deployment readiness. - **Own deployments end to end.** Lead engagements from technical evaluation and proof of concept through pilot, production, and ongoing improvement. - **Customize and integrate Moby.** Work with perception, learning, autonomy, and controls teammates to connect sensor inputs and task requirements to reliable robot behavior. - **Troubleshoot across the stack.** Resolve hardware, software, sensor, and AI integration issues alongside Engineering. - **Prove performance.** Define and validate measures for task completion, reliability, and failure recovery against agreed customer acceptance criteria. - **Close the loop.** Partner with Sales on evaluations and proposals, turn customer requirements into actionable work for Engineering and Product, and bring field findings into the roadmap. - **Build for scale.** Create repeatable deployment methods, documentation, and best practices, and mentor colleagues as the Application Engineering function grows. ### What You'll Bring - Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, or a related field, or equivalent hands-on experience. - Personal ownership of AI-enabled physical robot deployments, with clear examples of your technical contributions, decisions, and results. - Practical experience with robotic perception, learning, and autonomous behavior in real-world applications. - Working understanding of vision-language-action (VLA) models and how visual inputs, task instructions, and learned behaviors translate into robot actions. - Experience integrating and troubleshooting robotic hardware, software, sensors, and AI capabilities. - A track record of taking deployments from evaluation or pilot to reliable operation, including the challenges you hit and how you solved them. - Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with credibility in front of customers, engineers, and executives. - Ability to work across technical and commercial teams in a fast-moving, early-stage environment. - Willingness to travel to customer sites and to work on-site in Sunnyvale regularly. Candidates with fewer years of experience are encouraged to apply if they bring the technical depth, deployment ownership, and communication skills above. ### Nice to Have - Advanced degree in Robotics, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field. - Experience deploying humanoids, autonomous mobile robots, mobile manipulation, or other AI-enabled physical systems. - Hands-on experience integrating, adapting, or evaluating VLA models, learned policies, or perception systems on physical robots. - Experience with simulation, robot learning workflows, and sim-to-real transfer. - Experience leading customer discovery, technical demos, proofs of concept, or enterprise solution design. - Experience supporting industrial customers in construction, mining, energy, manufacturing, or logistics. - Experience mentoring engineers or building an Application Engineering team. ### California Pay Transparency Statement Pay Transparency & Compensation: In accordance with California's Pay Transparency Act (SB 1162), the expected base salary range for this position located in Sunnyvale, CA is $200,000 – $350,000 per year, in addition to bonus, equity, and benefits. Actual compensation within this range will be determined based on several factors, including the candidate's qualifications, relevant experience, technical skills, and specialized expertise. Base salary is just one component of Noble Machines' total rewards package, which may also include equity options, comprehensive healthcare benefits, retirement plan contributions, and performance-based incentives. Relocation assistance may be available. Exceptional U.S.-based candidates who need an alternative location arrangement will be considered individually. ### Equal Opportunity Employer Noble Machines is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All employment decisions are based on business needs, job requirements, and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, disability status, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. ### How to Apply Share your resume and one or two deployments you personally owned. Tell us what the customer needed, the decisions you made, what went wrong along the way, and how the robot performed in production. 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