> 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. # Lead Forward Deployed Engineer Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/eae406e36bd7303d Cosmic Robotics posts a FDE role to lead deployment teams in San Francisco, CA with no pay posted. Lead the customer-facing deployment function for Cosmic-1, owning robot deployments from setup and commissioning through field validation, maintenance, and long-term performance. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [Cosmic Robotics](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/cosmic-robotics) Posted Sep 23, 2026 by Cosmic Robotics · open on Ashby as of Nov 8, 2026 Pay not posted San Francisco, CA On-site Full-time Lead the customer-facing deployment function for Cosmic-1, owning robot deployments from setup and commissioning through field validation, maintenance, and long-term performance. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2Feae406e36bd7303d&placement=top) - [View posting at Cosmic Robotics](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/cosmic-robotics/740aaaac-cc7b-4b3c-b58c-eaff2ebb5be4/application) 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 Not posted Senior FDE postings, 1,864 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $160K to $220K, median $190K. ### The work Leads the deployment team Balance **Mostly building** Project stages 1. Pre-sales (not covered) 2. Proof of concept (not covered) 3. Implementation 4. Operations Travel **Required, amount not stated** - **Coding**: Writes production code - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Senior - **Role**: People manager ### What they ask for Experience - **3+ years** professional engineering experience at an organization with a strong forward deployed engineering culture - **5+ years** professional engineering experience in a technical field role *Preferred* Background - **Software engineering** - **Forward deployed engineering** ### 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 job is in San Francisco, 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**: San Francisco, CA - **Work arrangement**: On-site - **Employment type**: Full-time - **Travel**: Travel required, amount not stated ## More like this [Doss](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/doss) ### [Manager, Forward Deployed Services](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/1c7c45228bc8e823) San Francisco, CA On-site 3w ago $210,000–$260,000 [Snowflake](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/snowflake) ### [Software Engineering Manager, AI Migrations (Forward Deployed)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/61aaf790de9aa316) Menlo Park, CA 3w ago $236,000–$339,200 [Hadrian](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/hadrian) ### [Director of Engineering, Forward Deployed Engineering](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/7ea0de498fbe1432) SF Bay Area On-site 2w ago $300,000–$415,000 - [Other jobs at Cosmic Robotics (1)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/cosmic-robotics) ## The job description from Cosmic Robotics Posted by Cosmic Robotics on Sep 23, 2026 ### Lead Forward Deployed Engineer Location: San Francisco, CA (full time, in-person) ### Company Overview Our mission is to **accelerate the construction of critical infrastructure on Earth** while pioneering technologies to enable humanity to build beyond. Starting with Cosmic-1 – a system that installs solar panels 10x faster than today’s methods, helping us transition to a clean energy future and laying the groundwork for the future of autonomous construction. ### The Role As a Lead Forward Deployed Engineer, you will build and lead the team that bridges our cutting-edge robotics and our customers, owning the end-to-end deployment and long-term success of robots in the field. You will work hand-in-hand with our customers to develop, deploy, and ensure the optimal performance of the best construction robots in the world. This role is crucial for extending our platform with new features based on direct customer feedback and driving its adoption. As a core member of the team, you will help define the era of autonomous construction. This is a rare opportunity to: - Work on hard, meaningful problems that impact the future of infrastructure and energy. - Collaborate with a world-class team from NASA, SpaceX, Google, Amazon, Zoox, Tesla, Nuro, Built Robotics, and others. - Rapidly grow, learn, and lead within a quickly scaling company. ### Responsibilities - Own the full robot deployment lifecycle at customer sites, from initial setup and commissioning to field validation and long-term maintenance. - Work directly with customers as a technical partner, translating their operational needs into requirements for new robot and platform features. - Develop, integrate, and deploy new features to meet specific customer requirements. - Triage and debug issues in the field and ensure high robot uptime. - Set milestones, plan roadmaps, and deliver on ambitious timelines for customer deployments and feature delivery. - Balance tasks as an individual contributor while also managing and mentoring other forward deployed engineers and staff. ### Requirements - 3+ years of professional engineering experience at an organization with a strong forward deployed engineering culture. - Experience with forward deployment, field engineering, or technical consulting in a robotics field. - Management and recruiting experience. - Willingness to regularly travel to customer jobsites. - Experience debugging and developing hardware, software (Python, C++), or mechatronics products. - Demonstrated experience owning the full product lifecycle from customer requirements collection to field deployment. - Excellent communication and project management skills. - Thrive in fast-paced dynamic environments and push boundaries to meet deadlines. ### Bonus - 5+ years of professional engineering experience in a technical field role. [View posting at Cosmic Robotics](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/cosmic-robotics/740aaaac-cc7b-4b3c-b58c-eaff2ebb5be4/application) ## Similar jobs [AMD](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/amd) ### [Director, Cluster Forward Deployment Engineering Data Center GPU](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/dcbb2b5305ef3d6b) Santa Clara, CA 2w ago Pay not posted [Google](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/google) ### [Forward Deployed Engineering Manager II, Data Cloud, Google Cloud](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/800f27a82298228a) New York, NY · Sunnyvale, CA · +1 more New · 3d ago $262,000–$364,000 [Amazon (incl AWS)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/amazon-incl-aws) ### [Forward Deployed Engineering Manager, AWS Forward Deployed Engineering](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/54139ba3c218c1dc) East Palo Alto, CA · Irvine, CA · +4 more 10d ago $184,900–$287,700 [Aircall](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/aircall) ### [Director, Forward Deployed Engineering & AI GTM](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/fc7f1d0479aa37c4) New York, NY · San Francisco, CA 3mo ago $200,000–$299,000 [Profound](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/profound) ### [Manager, Forward Deployed Marketing Engineers](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/5f8b796da97a1250) New York, NY · San Francisco, CA On-site 4w ago $183,000–$190,500 - [Compare senior FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/senior) - [Similar jobs in SF Bay Area](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?region=sf-bay-area) - [Similar jobs that lead deployment teams](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?role=leadership) Hiring at Cosmic Robotics and want this page changed or removed? 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