Forward Deployed Engineer

IonFirst; Indonesia; On-site; IDR 240,000,000 - 420,000,000; Full time

Job summary

IonFirst seeks Forward Deployed Engineers who bridge client operations and engineering at the boundary of real-world environments. You will work with clients and internal teams to understand operational problems and translate them into structured engineering solutions.

Projects span software, AI, data, mechanical systems, electronics, or automation. Strong problem decomposition, rapid domain learning, and clear communication are essential as you build prototypes and deploy solutions with

Qualifications

• Must be able to decompose complex problems into actionable steps.
• Ability to learn unfamiliar domains quickly and autonomously.
• Strong written and verbal communication with stakeholders.
• Experience translating business problems into engineering requirements.
• Comfort working with uncertainty and evolving specs.

Responsibilities

• Work directly with clients and internal teams to understand operational problems.
• Translate ambiguous business problems into structured engineering problems.
• Map workflows, systems, constraints, data, and dependencies.
• Design practical technical solutions.
• Build prototypes, models, systems, integrations, devices, or analytical workflows.
• Collaborate with specialists from other engineering disciplines.
• Participate in implementation and deployment.
• Evaluate whether the deployed solution produces measurable operational impact.
• Document technical decisions and communicate them clearly to stakeholders.

Skills

Problem solving

Systems thinking

Client interaction

Learning quickly

Technical discipline

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Job description

Forward Deployed Engineers work at the boundary between IonFirst and the client's real operational environment. They investigate problems, understand constraints, design solutions, and help carry those solutions through implementation.

FDE at IonFirst is multidisciplinary. Candidates do not need to come exclusively from software engineering or computer science.

What you'll do

• Work directly with clients and internal teams to understand operational problems.
• Translate ambiguous business problems into structured engineering problems.
• Map workflows, systems, constraints, data, and dependencies.
• Design practical technical solutions.
• Build prototypes, models, systems, integrations, devices, or analytical workflows depending on the project.
• Collaborate with specialists from other engineering disciplines.
• Participate in implementation and deployment.
• Evaluate whether the deployed solution produces measurable operational impact.
• Document technical decisions and communicate them clearly to stakeholders.

What we're looking for

• Strong problem decomposition and systems thinking.
• Evidence of having built or contributed to projects solving real problems.
• Ability to learn unfamiliar domains quickly.
• Technical competence in at least one engineering or quantitative discipline.
• Ability to communicate reasoning clearly.
• Comfort working with uncertainty.
• Ownership mentality.
• Willingness to interact directly with clients when required.

We do not require a specific university major.

Projects can come from software, AI, data, mechanical systems, chemical processes, electronics, industrial systems, research, automation, or other engineering disciplines.

What matters is the candidate's ability to demonstrate how they identified a problem, reasoned about it, and contributed to solving it.

Nice to have

• Experience working on multidisciplinary projects.
• Previous client-facing experience.
• Experience deploying something beyond a classroom environment.
• Experience working with business or operational stakeholders.
• Strong technical documentation.
• Portfolio, GitHub, research, prototype, case study, or engineering project demonstrating problem-solving ability.