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Forward Deployed Engineer

Updated

$165,000–$230,000San Francisco, CAOn-site

Forward Deployed Engineers bridge sales, engineering, and customers for next-generation hardware teams, owning technical evaluations, deployments, enablement, and adoption.

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View posting at Flow Engineering

At a glance

Posted base pay

$165K–$230KLevel with the median

The work

Proves it works before the sale

Balance

  1. Mostly building
  2. Mixed
  3. Mostly pre-sales or support

Project stages

  1. Pre-sales
  2. Proof of concept
  3. Implementation
  4. Operations
Coding
Prototypes and scripts
Builds for
External customers
Level
Senior
Role
Individual contributor

What they ask for

Experience

  • 3+ yearshardware, mechanical, or systems engineering rolePreferred

Background

  • Software engineering

Tools

  • Jira
  • Confluence
  • PLM
  • MBSE
  • requirements management tools

Less common in FDE jobs

  • Coding work: Prototypes and scripts5%
  • Covers pre-sales24%
  • On-site37%
  • Covers proofs of concept39%

Share of US FDE postings that state each fact.

The job description from Flow Engineering

Posted by Flow Engineering on

About Flow

Flow is reinventing how humanity builds its most complex machines. We are the tool for complex systems engineering used by next gen teams building the future of space, defense, automotive, aviation and robotics. If a company is aiming for the Moon, developing fusion power, or establishing the first interplanetary colony, they’re likely using Flow to get there.

We’re backed by Sequoia Capital with angel investors including Patrick & John Collison (Stripe), David Helgason (Unity) and Kyle Parrish (Figma).

About the Role

As one of our first forward deployed engineers, you’ll sit at the intersection of sales, engineering and customers: understanding how next-gen hardware teams build, guiding deployments, and supporting adoption, ensuring customers have the insight and tools to achieve meaningful outcomes.

This is an ideal role for someone who started their career on hardware engineering programs, then discovered they love working with customers to solve their problems. This role will enable incredible hardware companies to reinvent how they work.

What You’ll Do

  • Owning the technical win: You will own a valuable part of the sales process (custom demos, trail/POC execution). This is paramount to winning new business for Flow.
  • Understand and map customer workflows: Work with customers to deeply understand their current workflow, pain points, and priorities, and showcase tailored solutions to proactively address those.
  • Run technical enablement sessions: Identify and demonstrate how Flow can transform the customer’s development process through workshops, training, and joint solutions sessions.
  • Shape our roadmap: Act as the link between our customers and engineering to develop new innovative solutions. You will be key in building the future roadmap of our product by acting as the technical team’s eyes and ears in the field.
  • Build the GTM foundation: Help build and define Flow’s activation methodology for our most strategic customers. You will help design our technical GTM playbook, implementation guides, and training materials for future hires.

About You

  • Strong software engineering fundamentals: Including designing, testing, and operating services at scale in a cloud environment.
  • Structured storyteller: You can turn complex ideas into simple messages and make them engaging to both engineers and executives.
  • Builder mentality: You want to help define how a world-class technical GTM motion is built from the ground up.

Nice to have

  • You get systems engineering: 3+ years in a hardware, mechanical or systems engineering role. You know how complex machines are actually developed.
  • Sales experience: managed customer relationships in either pre-sales or post-sales engagements. Closing experience is an extra bonus!
  • Industry experience: Experience in industries such as space, energy, robotics, or advanced manufacturing.
  • Experience working with engineering tools like Jira, Confluence, PLM, MBSE or legacy requirements tools.

View posting at Flow Engineering

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Pay and conditions

Posted pay
$165,000–$230,000
Pay details

$165K – $230K • Offers Equity

Location
San Francisco, CA
Work arrangement
On-site
Employment type
Full-time
Experience requirements
  • 3+ years: hardware, mechanical, or systems engineering role (preferred)