Forward Deploy Engineer

Bucket; San Francisco, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Equity

Benefits

Professional development budget

Job summary

Bucket Robotics is seeking a Forward Deploy Engineer to bridge the core engineering team and live manufacturing deployments in San Francisco, with regular travel to customer sites across the U.S.

You will deploy vision systems, onboard customers, integrate cameras and models into production workflows, and own in-field issue resolution from discovery to fix, collaborating with engineers to ship fixes and improve the platform.

Qualifications

• 2+ years in software, robotics, systems, or field-facing roles.
• Strong Python programming skills.
• Experience debugging across hardware and software boundaries.
• Direct experience working with customers in technical settings.

Responsibilities

• Deploy vision systems at customer sites.
• Onboard customers during pilots and early production.
• Integrate cameras and models into production workflows.
• Debug issues across software, ML, hardware, and lighting.
• Own in-field issue resolution from discovery to fix.
• Collaborate with core engineering to reproduce issues and ship fixes.
• Translate deployment pain points into product improvements.
• Build deployment playbooks and tooling for faster rollouts.
• Support evaluations with sales and leadership.
• Travel up to 30% and work on-site in SF and at sites nationwide.

Skills

Python

Robotics

Customer-facing

Field engineering

Job description

Role Overview

Bucket Robotics is hiring aForward Deploy Engineerto work at the boundary between our core engineering team and real manufacturing deployments. You’ll spend most of your time in San Francisco building alongside our engineers—but regularly travel to customer sites across the U.S. to deploy, debug, and harden our system in real production environments.

This role is ideal for an engineer who wants to see their work leave the laptop and show up on factory floors—integrating cameras, models, and workflows with real constraints, real operators, and real uptime requirements.

Responsibilities

• Deploy Bucket’s vision systems at customer manufacturing sites
• Work directly with customers during onboarding, pilots, and early production runs
• Integrate cameras, edge devices, and models into real production workflows
• Debug issues spanning software, ML models, hardware, lighting, and environment
• Serve as the technical owner for in-field issues from discovery through resolution
• Collaborate closely with the core engineering team to reproduce issues and ship fixes
• Translate real-world deployment pain points into actionable product and platform improvements
• Build deployment playbooks, checklists, and internal tooling to make future rollouts faster and more reliable
• Support technical evaluations alongside sales and leadership without being a sales role
• This role will require travel for up to 30% of the time. You’ll be hands‑on helping customers use our technology, and when in SF building alongside the rest f our engineering team.

Required Qualifications

• 2+ years experience in software engineering, robotics, systems, or field‑facing engineering roles
• Strong programming skills in Python
• Comfortable debugging complex systems across hardware and software boundaries
• Experience working directly with customers in technical environments
• Enjoys wearing many hats and operating in fast‑moving, ambiguous situations
• Willingness to travel ~30% of the time to customer sites across the U.S.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience deploying or supporting ML or computer vision systems in production
• Familiarity with cameras, edge devices, or embedded systems
• Background in robotics, manufacturing, automation, or industrial environments
• Experience with Linux‑based systems and on‑prem or edge deployments
• Previous startup or early‑stage company experience

What We Offer

• Competitive salary & meaningful equity – help shape how our technology works in the real world
• Comprehensive benefits – health, dental, and vision insurance
• Professional development budget – conferences, courses, and skills growth
• A chance to build something real – see your work running on factory floors across the country

Our Values

Innovation First:We solve hard, real‑world problems in robotics and manufacturing

Ownership Mentality:We take responsibility from deployment through resolution

Customer Trust:We build systems customers rely on in production

Continuous Learning:Every deployment makes the product better

Bucket Robotics is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.