Forward Deployed Engineer San Francisco Bay Area

TAR; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

TAR builds its own construction robots to install solar power campuses faster than crews can by hand. As Forward Deployed Engineer, you are the first line of technical response for those robots in the field: you deploy them, get them running to spec, and diagnose whatever goes wrong across mechanical, electrical, and software or controls.

This is a hands-on generalist role based at our San Francisco robotics facility, with multi-week deployments at our West Texas site.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical, electrical, or related engineering; hands-on experience acceptable.
• 3+ years in field engineering, field service, or systems engineering for complex hardware.
• Broad engineering background across mechanical, electrical, and basic software or controls.
• Ability to diagnose technical issues in the field under time pressure.
• Strong documentation skills to convert field experience into procedures.
• Willingness to travel and spend multi-week deployments on-site.

Responsibilities

• Deploy, set up, and commission TAR's robotic systems in the field to spec under real-site conditions.
• Diagnose hardware, software, or integration faults on-site and resolve or escalate with clear docs.
• Lead root-cause analysis for field failures and feed fixes back to design and maintenance.
• Create and maintain field operating procedures, checklists, and technical docs.
• Collaborate with design and manufacturing to translate field lessons into improvements.
• Lead the field rollout of new systems as technical bridge between engineers and operators.
• Maintain field-ready tooling, spare parts, and test equipment to minimize downtime.

Skills

Field engineering

Technical troubleshooting

Documentation

Travel

Education

Bachelor's degree in mechanical, electrical, or related engineering

Tools

Robotics systems

Scripting basics

Job description

TAR’s mission is to power intelligence for the world. We are building the world’s first off-grid power plant for data centers powered by renewable technologies.

We firmly believe AI should be built in the US for the benefit of all people. For that, power must be fast, clean and scalable. We are singularly focused on delivering GW-scale power faster than anyone has ever done, by rethinking every layer of the stack.

We vertically integrate to solve every bottleneck, from racking systems to power electronics to dispatch algorithms to on-site construction.

Leave your mark on the future of civilization-scale energy infrastructure.

Company

TAR is both a hardware and software company, we are building out massive, critical, physical infrastructure. TAR is working directly with one of the largest compute providers to scale and deploy 5GWs by 2028.

• High ownership. High Agency. Own project end-to-end. Great people don’t need to be managed.
• Speed. We achieve great things on incredible timelines. We push ourselves to go faster.
• First principles. No ego. No hierarchy. Challenge every assumption.
• Passion. Solving the energy problem is one of the largest challenges that faces the world now and in the future.

About the role

TAR builds its own construction robots to install solar power campuses faster than crews can by hand, and the first of those machines are in the field now. They run in dust, heat, and remote conditions where downtime stalls the whole build. As Forward Deployed Engineer, you are the first line of technical response for those robots in the field: you deploy them, get them running to spec, and diagnose whatever goes wrong across mechanical, electrical, and software or controls. You take field failures from first symptom through root cause, resolving what you can on-site and feeding the systemic issues back to design and manufacturing engineering so the next machine is better. This is a hands-on generalist role based at our San Francisco robotics facility, with multi-week deployments at our West Texas site.

Responsibilities

• Deploy, set up, and commission TAR's robotic systems in the field, configuring and validating each one to spec before and during operation so it performs under real site conditions.
• Serve as the first line of technical response when field issues arise, diagnosing hardware, software, or integration faults on-site and either resolving them or escalating with clear, actionable documentation.
• Own root-cause analysis for field failures, working with engineering to separate one-off incidents from systemic problems and feeding fixes back into design and maintenance procedures.
• Develop and maintain field operating and maintenance procedures, checklists, and technical documentation that let other operators run and service the equipment safely and consistently.
• Partner directly with design and manufacturing engineering to turn field lessons into product and process improvements for future systems.
• Lead the field rollout of new systems, acting as the technical bridge between engineering teams and the operators who will run the equipment day to day.
• Maintain field-ready tooling, spare parts, and test equipment so the team can resolve issues without unnecessary downtime.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical, electrical, or a related engineering field, or equivalent hands-on experience.
• 3+ years in a field engineering, field service, or systems engineering role supporting complex hardware, ideally robotic or electromechanical systems.
• General engineering background spanning mechanical, electrical, and basic software or controls troubleshooting, rather than deep specialization in a single discipline.
• Demonstrated ability to diagnose and resolve technical issues independently in the field, under real operating conditions and time pressure.
• Strong technical documentation skills, able to turn field experience into procedures other operators can follow.
• Willing to travel and to spend multi-week stretches on-site supporting live deployments, including outdoor and austere environments.

Nice to have

• Experience with robotics systems deployed in austere, remote, or industrial field environments.
• Experience supporting a product through its first field deployments, not only an established fleet.
• Familiarity with root-cause and corrective action (RCCA) methodologies.
• Comfortable with basic scripting or software tools to support diagnostics and data collection in the field.