Forward Deployed Chapter Lead (FullStack)

NestAI; Helsinki; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

ESOP

Healthcare

Lunch benefit

Mental wellbeing services

Holiday allowance

Phone benefit

Mac or PC

Team lunches

Job summary

NestAI is seeking a Forward Deployed Fullstack Chapter Lead in Helsinki to steer engineering standards and people leadership for a chapter of engineers across frontend, backend, and infrastructure. You’ll balance hands-on coding with staffing, coaching, and career growth, while ensuring customer deliveries meet high bar.

In this role you’ll recruit, coach, and align chapter practices with business goals, bridging Engineering, Product, and field context.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering across the full stack (frontend, backend, infrastructure)
• 3+ years in formal people management or leadership roles
• Strong track record of hiring, mentoring, and retaining engineers in fast-moving environments
• Technically credible to engage in architecture or code-level discussions
• Comfortable leading technical initiatives alongside people leadership
• Interest or background in customer-facing/field engineering contexts
• Ability to build people frameworks and team processes from the ground up
• Strong interest or background in AI, robotics, or defence/aerospace tech is a plus

Responsibilities

• Own the technical bar for your chapter: define good engineering standards and ensure they hold up in practice
• Line management for a chapter of Forward Deployed Engineers with full-stack backgrounds across multiple client engagements
• Recruiting, coaching, performance development, and career growth for your team
• Balance staffing across deployments while considering wellbeing and growth targets
• Lead or contribute to technical initiatives without being tied to day-to-day delivery
• Coach the chapter with field-context awareness to inform practice evolution
• Bridge Engineering, Product, and your chapter to feed field realities into decision-making

Skills

Full stack engineering

People leadership

Hiring & mentoring

Architecture discussions

Customer/context awareness

People frameworks

AI/defence tech interest

Job description

NestAI builds the adaptive operating system for modern battlefield operations. Most AI systems are built once, validated at deployment, and expected to stay sufficient after that. That assumption holds until conditions change, and in defence, they always do. Our team develops adaptive intelligence for unmanned and command systems: AI that continuously learns from operational data and adapts to changing conditions, deployed in environments where there is no internet, no GPS, and failure is not an option. NestOS, our open, modular, and interoperable platform, enables this at scale and keeps capability evolution under sovereign European control.

Founded in 2025 by Peter Sarlin, whose previous company Silo AI became Europe’s largest AI acquisition, NestAI has grown to over 200 engineers and scientists and partners with leading European defence forces and industry. We’re ambitious about what we’re building and honest with each other. The bar is high, and so are the standards we hold ourselves to. But this is also a place built on humility, trust, and looking after each other. If that sounds like the kind of work you want to do, keep reading.

Join us as a Forward Deployed Fullstack Chapter Lead

As a Fullstack Chapter Lead, you’ll own the technical bar and the people development for a chapter of engineers with full-stack backgrounds, operating in our customer deliveries. You won’t be personally allocated to customer delivery, but you’ll stay close enough to the work that you understand exactly what your chapter is dealing with in the field. You’ll combine real technical credibility with genuine people leadership, defining what good looks like, growing the team, and jumping in to support specific projects or lead teams when it matters.

What you’ll work on

You’ll split your time between people leadership, setting technical standards, and staying hands‑on enough to support initiatives when your chapter needs it. Day‑to‑day, you will:

• Own the technical bar for your chapter: define what good engineering looks like and make sure standards and practices actually hold up in practice

• Have line management responsibility for a chapter of Forward Deployed Engineers with full-stack backgrounds working across multiple concurrent client engagements. Own recruitment, continuous coaching, performance development, and career growth for your team, and help build out chapter-level people processes and progression paths that are still taking shape as we scale.

• Contribute to staffing and balancing engineers across active deployments, weighing business needs against individual wellbeing and professional growth targets.

• Support specific projects or initiatives as a technical contributor, including leading teams on initiatives, without being formally allocated to day‑to‑day customer delivery

• Stay close enough to the field context to coach your chapter effectively, understanding what they encounter on customer deployments

• Act as a bridge between Engineering, Product, and your chapter, feeding field realities back into how the team and practices evolve

What we’re looking for

If your background doesn’t match every requirement but the work resonates with you, how you think, learn, and take ownership matters more to us than ticking every box. Here is what we are looking for:

• 8+ years of software engineering experience across the full stack (frontend, backend, infrastructure), with 3+ years in formal people management or leadership roles

• Strong track record of hiring, mentoring, and retaining high‑performing engineers in fast‑moving, ambiguous environments

• Technically credible enough to set a real engineering bar and engage in architecture or code‑level discussions when it matters

• Comfortable supporting or leading specific technical initiatives alongside your people leadership responsibilities

• Genuine understanding of, or strong interest in, customer‑facing/field engineering contexts, even without being personally allocated to delivery

• Ability to build people frameworks and team processes from the ground up

• Strong interest or prior background in AI, robotics, or defence/aerospace technology is a strong plus

Why join NestAI

• Work alongside over 200 engineers and scientists, including 60+ PhDs. People who’ve built AI platforms, autonomous systems, and defence technology across Europe. Most of our people say the best thing about NestAI is the people you get to work with.

• Work with real ownership. You identify what needs building, talk to the right people, and ship. Ownership here is the expectation, not a talking point.

• Work at a pace where Monday’s idea can be Friday’s deployment. The problems we’re solving are urgent, so the culture reflects it.

• Work on systems that must operate with no connectivity, no GPS, and no margin for error. The problems we’re solving are technically hard, genuinely novel, and they sit at the intersection of AI and the physical world.

• Work at a company where the platform, the practices, and the standards are all being built right now. The people here get to define how things work and how they scale.

What we offer

We offer practical benefits to support your work and wellbeing:

• The chance to participate in the NestAI Employee Stock Option Program (ESOP)

• Occupational healthcare (currently provided by Mehiläinen)

• Epassi Flex benefit for sports, culture, commuting, and wellbeing

• Lunch benefit (25% tax‑free coverage)

• Mental wellbeing services via Auntie

• Holiday allowance (50% of holiday salary)

• Phone benefit (subscription and device per company policy)

• Your choice of Mac or PC

• Regular team lunches and company events

We are continuously developing our benefits offering as we grow.

Good to know

This role requires a security clearance, which is standard for defence industry positions in Finland. The process is handled by the relevant authority and typically takes two to three months. You can start working at NestAI before the clearance is finalised. We are happy to answer any questions about the process during the recruitment.

Relocation support is considered on a case‑by‑case basis.

Please note, we can’t accept applications sent via email.

NestAI is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate all applicants on their skills, experience, and potential, regardless of background, identity, or personal characteristics. We believe the best teams are built from diverse perspectives, and are committed to creating an environment where everyone can do meaningful work.