> 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. # Forward-Deployed Manufacturing Engineer Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/931f888b70f3be2e Instrumental posts a FDE role to integrate and configure the product, remote, hiring in Texas, at $116,500–$158,000 base, below the senior FDE median of $190,000 across 1,864 postings with pay. Forward-deployed engineer responsible for deploying and integrating equipment, tuning manufacturing AI software, and accelerating measurable value at complex electronics manufacturing sites. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [Instrumental](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/instrumental) Posted May 19, 2026 by Instrumental · open on Gem as of Nov 8, 2026 **$116,500–$158,000** Remote, hiring in Texas Full-time Forward-deployed engineer responsible for deploying and integrating equipment, tuning manufacturing AI software, and accelerating measurable value at complex electronics manufacturing sites. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F931f888b70f3be2e&placement=top) - [View posting at Instrumental](https://jobs.gem.com/instrumental-inc-/am9icG9zdDqZeUWbjCTMpcz5yE6uvgHo) 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 $117K–$158K Below the median Midpoint $137K · median $190K This job $117K to $158K. Senior FDE postings, 1,864 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $160K to $220K, median $190K. ### The work Integrates and configures it Balance **Mostly building** Project stages 1. Pre-sales (not covered) 2. Proof of concept (not covered) 3. Implementation 4. Operations (not covered) Travel **Up to 80%** - **Coding**: Configuration only - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Senior - **Role**: Individual contributor ### What they ask for Experience - **3+ years** professional experience in electronics manufacturing engineering or operations, on the brand or EMS side Background - **Software engineering** Tools - **training labels** ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting asks for 3+ years. How many do you have? The posting reads as a senior role. What level are you at now? The work is remote from the US. Can you work from the US? Answer each one. Nothing is saved or sent. [What postings ask for, by background →](https://nextmove.md/fde/paths) ## Conditions - **Location**: Dallas, TX - **Work arrangement**: Remote - **Employment type**: Full-time - **Travel**: Up to 80% - **Pay**: ## More like this [Instrumental](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/instrumental) ### [Forward-Deployed Manufacturing Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/59898ccdcbb794ac) Cincinnati, OH On-site 3mo ago $116,000–$176,000 [Second Front Systems](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/second-front-systems) ### [Senior Forward Deployed Engineer - Implementation Focus](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/8a389d79760f752c) US Remote 4mo ago $160,000–$190,000 [Amazon (incl AWS)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/amazon-incl-aws) ### [Assoc Delivery Cons, AI/ML, A2C ProServe Shared Delivery](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/8d492a2fd4cd0f8b) Jersey City, NJ · Arlington, VA · +2 more 3mo ago $98,200–$185,000 - [Other jobs at Instrumental (2)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/instrumental) ## The job description from Instrumental Posted by Instrumental on May 19, 2026 Instrumental builds the manufacturing acceleration platform behind the world’s most complex electronics. We capture digital exhaust and engineering context from assembly lines—images, test logs, BOM data, performance, repair cycles—and our AI engines identify insights that are difficult or impossible for human engineers to find. We accelerate the companies building the AI era by improving manufacturing yield, throughput, and ramp. NVIDIA, Meta, L3Harris, and their manufacturing partners rely on Instrumental to accelerate new product introduction and production. Instrumental is seeking a versatile Forward-Deployed Engineer to join our tight-knit, high-performance Customer Experience team. This unique role will blend your hands-on experience in electronics manufacturing environments with our cutting-edge AI technology to deliver rapid and impactful results to our customers around the world. You’ll be involved in executing equipment deployments into complex electronics manufacturing lines, training Instrumental algorithms, leveraging our software to accelerate value delivery, and building critical relationships with our customers and their manufacturing partners. You’ll be working with Instrumental’s fastest-growing customers and delivering against core company missions. This is a great opportunity for someone passionate about improving electronics manufacturing and who loves frequent travel to factories in North America and around the world. The ideal candidate is multi-faceted, technically savvy, organized, and deeply customer-oriented. ### What You’ll Be Doing - **Own a Mission and Deliver on It. **In this role, you’ll travel to customer factory sites, primarily in North America, with a specific, company-critical mission. Common missions may include setting up and integrating physical equipment and accelerating customer “time to value” by hand-tuning Instrumental algorithms and software. You’ll have support from our global team, but you’ll be the engineer on the ground who will own mission success. - **Build Relationships with Customer and Factory Stakeholders. **While onsite, you’ll endeavor to understand and build rapport with the various stakeholders who are critical to Instrumental’s success and pave the way for further adoption. You’ll leverage these relationships to complete your missions quickly and effectively. You’ll cement a strong technical and dependable reputation for yourself and Instrumental at large. - **Leverage Instrumental’s Software to Drive Value. **You’ll quickly become an expert in Instrumental’s software and technology, including many non-customer-facing functionalities. This will enable you to quickly identify how to get the most performance out of the system – whether that’s by making a physical tweak in the real-world, adding training labels, or replicating customer tests. You’ll use your engineer’s understanding of how our customer derive value to rapidly achieve results. ### What You Have - **Experience getting things done in electronics factories. **3+ years of professional experience in electronics manufacturing doing engineering or operations – either on the “brand” or EMS side. You understand factory environments, processes, and politics and can leverage that expertise to get things done quickly. - **Love the factory floor more than an office.** This role requires frequent travel to customer factory sites, primarily in North America. During peak periods, travel ratio may be as high as 80% of the time – and may include transiting in evenings and on weekends. - **Demonstrated ability to complete your mission.** You can share countless stories of mission ownership and completion, where you were able to deliver despite unforeseen or challenging circumstances. You love the idea of applying your diverse engineering and operations skillsets to critical company missions. - **Excellent written and spoken English + ideally Mandarin communication.** This role will require rapid and effective communication with a variety of global stakeholders, representing Instrumental with our more important customers. We’re looking for someone who enjoys meeting and interacting with people – this is a front-line role. We will prioritize bilingual English/Mandarin speakers. You’re encouraged to apply even if your experience doesn’t precisely match the job description. Instrumental offers competitive, location-based compensation. The following is a representative annual base salary range: $116,500-$158,000. This job is also eligible for variable compensation, and the job title at hire will be "Field Deployed Engineer". Job leveling and salary opportunity are evaluated through our interview process—we review each applicant's experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities. Instrumental’s benefits include: Health, Vision, Dental, Public Transit/Commuter Plans, and Parental Leave. At Instrumental, protecting company and customer information is a shared responsibility. All employees are expected to comply with company security and privacy policies and promptly report suspected security incidents or policy violations. [View posting at Instrumental](https://jobs.gem.com/instrumental-inc-/am9icG9zdDqZeUWbjCTMpcz5yE6uvgHo) ## About Instrumental Manufacturing AI and data platform for electronics brands and manufacturers, combining visual inspection with production data to improve yield, throughput, and ramp. Series C · 100–200 people ## Similar jobs [PwC (US)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/pwc-us) ### [Forward Deployed Software Engineer-Palantir Foundry-Manager](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/5c609381e348c6d6) Chicago, IL · Raleigh, NC · +57 more Hybrid 2w ago $99,000–$232,000 [Verily Health](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/verily-health) ### [Technical Solutions Engineer - Pre](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/db46fd1578af02dd) Dallas, TX · Boston, MA · +1 more 2w ago $103,500–$155,500 [Accenture](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/accenture) ### [Salesforce Forward Deployed Engineer Lead (Agentforce)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/73e5924621161727) New York, NY · Milwaukee, WI · +39 more New · 2d ago $62,800–$218,800 [Sardine](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/sardine) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer, Integrations ](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/4f30811f7e9c13f1) US Remote 6w ago $95,000–$140,000 [Huron](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/huron) ### [AI Solution Architect-Research Office Managed Services](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/d4a4e56b6fc7e93e) Chicago, IL Remote 3mo ago $155,000–$175,000 - [Compare senior FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/senior) - [Similar jobs in Dallas–Fort Worth](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?region=dfw) - [Similar jobs that integrate and configure the product](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?role=technical-delivery) Hiring at Instrumental and want this page changed or removed? 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