Senior Forward Deployed Engineer

Axion Ray Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

HSA

Unlimited PTO

Relocation support

Commuter benefits

Health insurance

Parental leave

Lunch credit

401(k)

Job summary

Axion Ray Inc. is building its first Forward Deployed Engineering team in New York/San Francisco, with 25–50% travel. You will own customer engagements, design integrations, and deploy AI-enabled workflows in close collaboration with Product and Engineering.

You will write and review production code, reason about reliability, and ship solutions that solve real manufacturing problems for digital customers.

Qualifications

• Strong software engineering fundamentals and ownership of production code.
• Experience with Python, SQL, and full-stack development (TypeScript/React).
• Experience with enterprise data, API integrations, and applied AI workflows.
• Ability to translate ambiguous customer problems into concrete requirements.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with customers to identify valuable use cases and scope deliverables.
• Design and implement data integrations, business logic, APIs, and AI-enabled workflows.
• Deliver iteratively with tests, clear interfaces, and maintainable deployments.
• Work with Product/Engineering to reuse patterns and improve delivery standards.
• Monitor deployments, validate outputs, and maintain documentation and support models.

Skills

Python

SQL

TypeScript/React

APIs

Data modeling

Delivery ownership

Tools

Git

Docker

CI/CD

APIs

Job description

• Backed by leading investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, Amplo, Boeing, and RTX Ventures, Axion is poised to lead the quality revolution in manufacturing
• We’re building our first Forward Deployed Engineering team to turn those opportunities into software customers use
• You’ll be one of the first two engineers shaping the function, with the responsibility to understand a customer’s problem, decide what is worth building, and take the solution from an initial idea to a reliable deployment
• This is a hands‑on software engineering role. You will write and review code, work through messy data, design integrations and applications, and own how your software behaves after release
• You’ll also spend time with customers: asking questions, observing workflows, explaining tradeoffs, and testing whether what you’ve built actually solves the problem
• You’ll report to our Head of Strategic Accounts and work alongside our account‑facing Solutions Directors, and have a dotted‑line relationship with Engineering
• You’ll combine direct customer engagement with substantial hands‑on build time. The role is based in New York or San Francisco with 25-50% travel
• Understand and scope. Work directly with customer business and technical teams to identify a valuable use case. Turn broad requests into a focused scope, clear acceptance criteria, and a practical delivery plan. Know when existing Axion capabilities are sufficient, when new software is needed, and when a request should be narrowed or declined
• Build and deploy. Design and implement the data integrations, business logic, APIs, applications, and AI‑enabled workflows needed for the solution
• Deliver usable software iteratively, with tests, clear interfaces, appropriate access controls, and a deployment approach agreed with Engineering. Use AI where it helps; use deterministic software where correctness and repeatability call for it
• Validate and own. Reconcile outputs against source data and agreed business rules. Evaluate model behavior when AI is part of the solution
• Work with users to validate accuracy, usability, and business value. Monitor deployments, resolve issues, document how the system works, and establish a clear ongoing support model
• Help the work scale. Partner with account teams to connect technical delivery to customer adoption and new use cases
• Work with Product and Engineering to identify patterns worth reusing, rather than creating a separate product for every customer. Help establish the engineering practices, delivery standards, and working relationships for the FDE team
• What Success Looks Like:
• Customers are using new workflows that would not otherwise have been delivered, can explain the value those workflows create, and have a clear reason to expand their use of Axion
• Your software is dependable, your scope decisions are thoughtful, and the work leaves the next deployment easier—not harder—to deliver
• We move fast, work smart, and hold ourselves to a high bar. Axion is a place for people who take pride in their craft and are motivated by meaningful work
• We respect time off and boundaries, but we’re also realistic: hard problems sometimes require weekend pushes or late‑night thinking sessions. We support that balance — intensity with respect for recharge
• We stay highly collaborative and connected throughout the day — much of our communication happens over Slack. We move quickly, share feedback often, and keep discussions open so decisions and context flow freely
• If you value crisp communication, rapid iteration, and a steady hum of collaboration, you’ll fit right in

Benefits

• Employee stock option program
• Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Unlimited paid time off (PTO)
• Relocation support
• Commuter benefits
• Comprehensive healthcare coverage (100% of employee premiums covered and 70% for dependents)
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave (birthing parents)
• Daily lunch credit when you’re in the office (around $20/day)
• 401(k) plan with optional supplemental life, disability, and more

Two paths into the role. You may have already worked as an FDE or customer‑facing software engineer, with real ownership from discovery through deploymentYou may also be a strong software engineer ready for more customer exposure. For that second path, meaningful manufacturing or industrial workflow experience is particularly importantWe care more about what you’ve built and owned than whether you’ve held the FDE titleEngineering. Strong software engineering fundamentals and a track record of personally shipping and maintaining production software. You can work independently across backend/application logic, data models, APIs, testing, and debuggingYou’re comfortable reasoning about reliability, permissions, failure cases, and the tradeoffs between a fast first release and a maintainable systemUseful experience. Python and SQL; full-stack application development with TypeScript/React or comparable tools; enterprise data and API integrations; applied AI or agent workflows with rigorous evaluation; and manufacturing, quality, reliability, supply‑chain, or service operationsYou do not need every item on this list. Strong engineering judgment and demonstrated delivery are more important than familiarity with a particular frameworkCustomer ownership. You enjoy understanding how people work and translating an ambiguous problem into a useful solutionYou communicate clearly with technical and nontechnical colleagues, take responsibility for outcomes, and can push back constructively when a request is not the right thing to build. You’re comfortable operating in a small team without waiting for a fully specified backlogYou’re a builder and operator who thrives in fast‑moving, high‑accountability environments. You take pride in getting things done — thoughtfully, efficiently, and without dramaYou value feedback — giving it, receiving it, and acting on it — and you see collaboration as a competitive advantage, not a burdenYou’re energized by ambiguity, skilled at bringing clarity, and comfortable flexing between strategy and executionYou’re low‑ego but high‑agency: you care about winning as a team more than being right individually. You move quickly, communicate directly, and make decisions grounded in impact and dataYou don’t need constant direction — you create momentum. You take ownership for outcomes, and you expect the same from those around you