Director, Forward Deployed Engineering
Hadrian Automation6 hours ago
Base Salary
$300k - $415k/yr
Responsibilities
- Own the technical roadmap and delivery for one or more Forward Deployed programs from ambiguous initial conversations through production.
- Decide what Opus covers, what should be built, and what should be declined while maintaining high standards for rate, quality, schedule, and cost.
- Feed program learnings back to platform teams and determine which Forward Deployed products should become part of Opus.
- Serve as the primary technical contact for customer program leadership, government stakeholders, and prime partners.
- Run technical reviews and make decisions involving scope, schedule, and platform leverage.
- Hire, lead, and develop engineers, product managers, and designers on the program.
- Stay hands-on by building early prototypes and closely reviewing later team deliverables.
Requirements
- Demonstrated experience leading engineering and product teams and scaling a product from zero to one.
- Experience managing senior customer relationships and making company commitments that must be delivered.
- Strong product judgment and experience shipping products end to end.
- Hands-on technical ability across architecture, technical review, and taking ideas from design to delivery.
- Experience using AI to accelerate discovery and execution and redesign team workflows around it.
- Experience hiring builders into ambiguous roles and rapidly making them productive.
- Strong communication with internal and external executives and motivation to work at a rapid pace.
- Founder or founding-team experience is a preferred qualification.
- Experience in aerospace, defense, manufacturing, or environments combining hardware, software, and operations is preferred.
- Forward Deployed or solutions leadership experience at a product company is preferred.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans are available for full-time employees.
- 401(k) is provided.
- Relocation support may be provided in certain situations based on business need.
- Flexible vacation policy.
- Equity.
Categories
Forward Deployed
About Hadrian Automation
Hadrian Automation builds autonomous, software-driven factories that manufacture precision components for aerospace and defense programs, including rockets, satellites, aircraft, and ships. The company operates a Factory-as-a-Service platform, combining AI, robotics, and full-stack machining and fabrication to deliver critical parts and production capacity. Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Los Angeles, it is privately held and expanding capabilities across welding, casting, forging, electronics, and additive manufacturing.