Forward Deployed Engineer

**We’re building the UK’s next generation engineering powerhouse, providing critical technology that strengthens national security and resilience.

We specialise in turning advances in sensing, AI, and communications into operational capability for the edge, where connectivity may be degraded or denied. Our work focuses on accelerating the deployment of technology, improving decision-making for frontline teams, and protecting people and critical assets in demanding environments.

Headquartered in Bristol, Rowden employs around 200 people and operates over 20,000 square feet of engineering and manufacturing facilities. We have a growing international footprint and are one of Europe’s fastest-growing engineering businesses.

About the role

This role sits at the intersection of customers, engineering and product, helping turn complex operational problems into deployed technical capability. It involves spending significant time working alongside customers at their sites and in their operational environments, developing a first-hand understanding of their challenges, workflows and constraints.

You'll take ownership of the technical success of customer deployments, from initial discovery and solution design through integration, deployment, testing and operational use. Working hands-on with Dovetail products and technologies, you'll configure, integrate and adapt solutions to meet real-world customer needs, while building a deep understanding of how customers use those products to identify opportunities to improve capability, usability and deployment.

The role requires operating effectively in ambiguous and fast-moving environments, where requirements may not be fully defined and solutions need to be developed iteratively with users. Throughout all of this, you act as a direct feedback loop between customers and Dovetail's Product and Engineering teams, ensuring lessons from the field inform future product development.

This is a forward-deployed role that requires significant time working at customer sites, with frequent travel across the UK and internationally.

Candidates must be eligible for DV clearance.

More information about security clearance is available here:

Customer & problem discovery

• Embed with customers and end users to understand their missions, workflows, technical environments and operational challenges.
• Observe how users work in practice and identify problems or opportunities that may not emerge through traditional requirements gathering.
• Translate loosely defined customer problems into clear technical requirements, hypotheses and achievable outcomes.