Forward Deployed Engineer - Robotics

MBN Solutions; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

MBN Solutions has exclusive access to an exciting early-stage robotics company seeking a Forward-Deployed Engineer. You will bridge software, robotics, and customer delivery, deploying systems in live environments and shaping the deployment experience.

You’ll own end-to-end deployments, work directly with customers to understand requirements, and contribute production-grade code while collaborating with product and engineering teams to improve both platform and customer outcomes.

Qualifications

• Experience in Forward-Deployed Engineering or other customer-facing technical roles.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals and production-quality systems.
• Ability to work with hardware constraints, incomplete information and operational complexity.
• Experience translating customer requirements into scalable technical solutions.
• Excellent communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Proactive, ownership-driven mindset and hands-on with customers.

Responsibilities

• Deploy, configure and optimise robotics software within customer environments.
• Partner directly with customers to understand operational workflows, technical challenges and deployment requirements.
• Act as the technical bridge between customers, product and engineering teams.
• Lead end-to-end deployments, ensuring systems are stable, reliable and production-ready.
• Develop and contribute high-quality production code based on deployment learnings.
• Identify real-world edge cases and feed them back into product development.
• Help establish best practices for deploying and operating robotic systems at scale.
• Support rapid iteration by translating customer feedback into technical improvements.

Skills

Customer-facing communication

Ownership mindset

Strong programming fundamentals

Problem solving

Robotics familiarity

Job description

MBN Solutions has been exclusively retained by one of the most exciting early-stage robotics companies to identify a Forward-Deployed Engineer who thrives at the intersection of software, robotics, and customer delivery.

Our client is building the infrastructure layer for the next generation of intelligent robotics. Their platform enables robots to perceive, reason, learn and operate across multiple hardware platforms, creating a scalable foundation for real-world physical intelligence. Backed by an exceptional leadership team and tackling one of the most challenging problems in AI and robotics, they’re developing technology that has the potential to fundamentally change how autonomous systems are built and deployed.

This is a unique opportunity to work directly with cutting-edge robotic systems, collaborating closely with customers to ensure advanced software performs reliably in complex real-world environments.

The Opportunity

As a Forward-Deployed Engineer, you’ll bridge the gap between engineering, product and customers, taking sophisticated robotics software from development into production.

This isn’t a traditional implementation role. You’ll be solving difficult engineering problems, deploying robotic systems in live environments, gathering customer feedback, and working alongside the core engineering team to continually improve both the product and deployment experience.

You’ll have significant ownership, working on everything from system configuration and validation through to long-term operational success, helping shape both the platform and the customer experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Deploy, configure and optimise robotics software within customer environments.
• Partner directly with customers to understand operational workflows, technical challenges and deployment requirements.
• Act as the technical bridge between customers, product and engineering teams.
• Lead end-to-end deployments, ensuring systems are stable, reliable and production-ready.
• Develop and contribute high-quality production code based on deployment learnings.
• Identify real-world edge cases and feed them back into product development.
• Help establish best practices for deploying and operating robotic systems at scale.
• Support rapid iteration by translating customer feedback into technical improvements.

What We’re Looking For

We’re interested in speaking with engineers who enjoy solving practical problems and working directly with customers in fast-moving technical environments.

You’ll ideally have:

• Experience in Forward-Deployed Engineering, Solutions Engineering, Field Engineering or another customer-facing technical role.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals with experience building production-quality systems.
• The ability to work effectively in environments with hardware constraints, incomplete information and operational complexity.
• Experience translating customer requirements into scalable technical solutions.
• Excellent communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• A proactive, ownership-driven mindset and willingness to work hands-on with customers

Preferred Experience

Whilst not essential, we’d be particularly interested in candidates with experience in:

• Deploying physical hardware or robotic systems into production environments.
• Robotics, autonomous systems, embedded software or industrial automation.
• Fast-paced deployment organisations

Why Join?

This is an opportunity to join a company tackling one of the biggest challenges in robotics and AI today.

You’ll work alongside world-class engineers developing technology at the forefront of physical intelligence, while playing a critical role in ensuring that cutting‑edge research successfully translates into reliable, real‑world deployments.

If you enjoy solving difficult engineering problems, working closely with customers, and seeing your work deployed in production, this role offers exceptional ownership, technical depth and long‑term career growth.