Senior Forward Deployed Engineer
Hands-on, customer-facing software engineer on Axion's first Forward Deployed Engineering team: scope customer problems, then build and own the solution end to end — data integrations, APIs, applications, and AI-enabled workflows on Axion's manufacturing quality-intelligence platform. Based in New York or San Francisco with 25-50% travel; core stack includes Python, SQL, and TypeScript/React.
- Compensation
- $220K–$270K / yr
- Location
- New York, NY
- Work setup
- Hybrid
- Seniority
- Senior
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- Not specified
- Category
- Solutions engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Strong software engineering fundamentals with a track record of personally shipping and maintaining production software
- Work independently across backend/application logic, data models, APIs, testing, and debugging
- Comfortable reasoning about reliability, permissions, failure cases, and speed-vs-maintainability tradeoffs
- Prior FDE or customer-facing software engineering experience with ownership from discovery through deployment, OR strong engineering background with meaningful manufacturing/industrial workflow experi
- Clear communication with technical and nontechnical colleagues; customer ownership and constructive pushback
- Comfortable operating in a small team without a fully specified backlog
- Based in New York or San Francisco
- Willingness to travel 25-50%
Nice to have
- Python
- SQL
- Full-stack application development with TypeScript/React or comparable tools
- Enterprise data and API integrations
- Applied AI or agent workflows with rigorous evaluation
- Manufacturing, quality, reliability, supply-chain, or service operations experience
Full description
About Us
Founded in 2021, Axion is at the forefront of transforming product quality and customer satisfaction in manufacturing. Our cutting-edge AI-powered platform empowers manufacturers to swiftly identify, thoroughly investigate, and effectively resolve quality issues while simultaneously elevating customer experiences and outcomes.
As trailblazers in end-to-end quality intelligence, we're setting new industry standards. Our innovative approach enables industrial, aerospace, consumer, and medtech manufacturers to harness the power of quality and post-market data, driving down costs and boosting business performance.
Our vision extends beyond mere problem-solving; we're committed to reshaping the future of manufacturing. By seamlessly integrating advanced AI technology with deep industry expertise, Axion is paving the way for smarter, safer, and more efficient production processes across diverse sectors.
Backed by leading investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, Amplo, Boeing, and RTX Ventures, Axion is poised to lead the quality revolution in manufacturing.
About the Role
We're building our first Forward Deployed Engineering team to turn those opportunities into software customers use. You'll be one of the first two engineers shaping the function, with the responsibility to understand a customer's problem, decide what is worth building, and take the solution from an initial idea to a reliable deployment.
This is a hands-on software engineering role. You will write and review code, work through messy data, design integrations and applications, and own how your software behaves after release. You'll also spend time with customers: asking questions, observing workflows, explaining tradeoffs, and testing whether what you've built actually solves the problem.
You'll report to our Head of Strategic Accounts and work alongside our account-facing Solutions Directors, and have a dotted-line relationship with Engineering. You'll combine direct customer engagement with substantial hands-on build time. The role is based in New York or San Francisco with 25-50% travel.
Two paths into the role. You may have already worked as an FDE or customer-facing software engineer, with real ownership from discovery through deployment. You may also be a strong software engineer ready for more customer exposure. For that second path, meaningful manufacturing or industrial workflow experience is particularly important. We care more about what you've built and owned than whether you've held the FDE title.
Key Responsibilities
- Understand and scope. Work directly with customer business and technical teams to identify a valuable use case. Turn broad requests into a focused scope, clear acceptance criteria, and a practical delivery plan. Know when existing Axion capabilities are sufficient, when new software is needed, and when a request should be narrowed or declined.