Forward Deployed Engineer (Physical Sciences)

Austinworks; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive equity

Job summary

Austinworks is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer in San Francisco to partner with scientists and engineers, translating complex technical problems into concrete software solutions using our platform. The role spans data integration, software development, deployment, and product feedback.

You'll work across customer discovery, build data pipelines and integrations, train users, and travel to customer labs and manufacturing sites as needed.

Qualifications

• Strong programming fundamentals, ideally with Python.
• Experience building software, data pipelines, integrations, or AI applications.
• Excellent communication and teaching ability.
• Comfortable working independently with customers.
• Experience or interest in physical-science fields.

Responsibilities

• Partner directly with scientists, engineers, and manufacturing teams.
• Translate ambiguous customer problems into clear technical solutions.
• Build data integrations, workflows, agents, and product features.
• Work with complex scientific data, including sensor logs, images, experimental results, and technical documentation.
• Train users, communicate findings, and own customer follow-ups.
• Bring customer insights back to the engineering and product teams.
• Travel periodically to customer laboratories and manufacturing facilities.

Skills

Python

Data pipelines

Software development

Communication

Customer-facing

Job description

$140-$200k estimated base salary + competitive equity

Onsite in SF with travel

About the Company

We are partnering with a seed-stage AI company building a scientific intelligence platform for the physical world. The platform connects fragmented data across lab notebooks, spreadsheets, sensor logs, images, and technical reports, then uses specialized AI agents to help scientists and engineers design experiments, investigate failures, and improve manufacturing yield.

The company works across industries including semiconductors, batteries, advanced materials, chemicals, and aerospace. It has raised a $7 million seed round from leading investors and is led by technical founders with backgrounds across Harvard, MIT, SpaceX, Warp, and IBM.

The Role

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will work directly with scientists and engineers to understand complex technical problems and build solutions using the company’s platform. You will operate across customer discovery, data integration, software development, deployment, and product feedback.

You might help a semiconductor team determine why fault rates increased, work with materials scientists to improve experimental design, or connect fragmented manufacturing data to automate a root-cause investigation.

Responsibilities

• Partner directly with scientists, engineers, and manufacturing teams
• Translate ambiguous customer problems into clear technical solutions
• Build data integrations, workflows, agents, and product features
• Work with complex scientific data, including sensor logs, images, experimental results, and technical documentation
• Train users, communicate findings, and own customer follow-ups
• Bring customer insights back to the engineering and product teams
• Travel periodically to customer laboratories and manufacturing facilities

Ideal Background

• Approximately 1 to 5 years of technical experience
• Strong programming fundamentals, ideally with Python
• Experience building software, data pipelines, integrations, or AI applications
• Excellent communication and teaching ability
• Comfortable working independently with customers
• Experience or strong interest in materials science, chemistry, semiconductors, batteries, manufacturing, or another physical-science field
• Comfortable operating in an early-stage environment with ambiguous problems