Software Engineering Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering Sterling, Virginia, United States Sterling, Virginia

Axon Enterprise; Sterling (VA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary & 401k with match

Discretionary PTO

Paid parental leave

Fitness programs

Emotional & mental wellness support

ERGs

Snacks in offices

Job summary

Axon is seeking an Engineering Manager for Forward Deployed Engineering in Sterling, VA. You will lead a global team delivering mission-critical software at live sites, guiding incident response, design reviews, and customer deployments.

You'll coach engineers across the US and Europe, own runbooks, and partner with product, services, and sales to ensure reliable deployments while advancing AI-assisted tooling adoption in daily work.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of software development experience or equivalent engineering background.
• 2+ years in engineering leadership, hiring, managing and developing engineers.
• Ability to review designs, code, and contribute hands-on during live incidents.
• Experience with incident response, root-cause analysis, runbooks, monitoring.
• Strong Linux and networking depth for live triage and root-cause analysis.
• Hands-on experience with AI-assisted engineering tools and workflows.
• Clear communication with customers, installers and leaders during live incidents; cross-team collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Hire, coach, and develop software engineers and systems specialists across US and Europe.
• Lead a team that resolves live site issues with customers and installers and plan workload and on-call rotation.
• Implement robust operational practices: incident response, root-cause analysis, post-incident reviews, risk reduction.
• Drive field escalations to resolution with product engineering teams and fix root causes in the product.
• Own and improve runbooks, checklists, and acceptance tests to make deployments repeatable.
• Collaborate with sales, services, and support teams on customer deployments.
• Travel to customer sites and events as needed.
• Leverage AI-assisted tools in daily work and help the team adopt them effectively.
• Measure team outcomes and report to senior leaders.

Skills

Software development

Engineering leadership

Technical judgment

Production operations

Linux & networking

AI-assisted tools

Clear communication

Job description

Join Axon and be a Force for Good.

At Axon, we’re on a mission to Protect Life. We’re explorers, pursuing society’s most critical safety and justice issues with our ecosystem of devices and cloud software. Like our products, we work better together. We connect with candor and care, seeking out diverse perspectives from our customers, communities and each other.
Life at Axon is fast-paced, challenging and meaningful. Here, you’ll take ownership and drive real change. Constantly grow as you work hard for a mission that matters at a company where you matter.

Your Impact

Dedrone protects airspace from drone threats. Each deployment combines our software, our own and partner sensors, and a networking stack that connects the site to DedroneC2 in the cloud. As Engineering Manager for Forward Deployed Engineering, you lead the team that owns the technical outcome at our most critical customer sites.

Your team takes each problem from live triage to a fix in the product. You have the authority to raise defects and to join design reviews with our product teams, based on what your team sees first-hand in the field. One question guides the work: how do we leave the product better than we found it, so nobody has to work this issue again?

What You’ll Do

Location:Onsite at our Sterling, Virginia office 4 days a week, and on the road 50% of time
Reports to: Senior Engineering Manager
Direct Reports: 3

• Hire, coach, and develop software engineers and systems specialists across the US and Europe.
• Lead a team that resolves live site problems with customers and installers as they come in, and plan its workload and its place on the engineering on-call rota.
• Run strong operational practices: incident response, root-cause analysis, reviews after incidents, and risk reduction.
• Drive field escalations to resolution with product engineering teams, and make sure each root cause is fixed in the product.
• Own and improve the runbooks, checklists, and acceptance tests that make deployments repeatable.
• Work with sales, services, and support teams on customer deployments.
• Travel to customer sites and events when the work needs it.
• Use AI-assisted engineering tools in your daily work, and help the team adopt them well.
• Measure the technical results of the team and report them to senior leaders.

What You Bring

• 5+ years of software development experience, or an equivalent engineering background
• 2+ years in an engineering leadership role, hiring, managing, and developing engineers
• Technical judgment to review designs and code, and to work hands-on during a live incident
• Production operations experience, such as incident response, root-cause analysis, runbooks, and monitoring
• Linux and networking depth to lead live triage and to judge root-cause analysis
• Hands-on experience with AI-assisted engineering tools and workflows
• Clear communication with customers, installers, and senior leaders during live incidents, and experience of work across teams without direct authority

Benefits that Benefit You

• Competitive salary and 401k with employer match
• Discretionary paid time off
• Paid parental leave for all
• Fitness Programs
• Emotional & Mental Wellness support
• Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
• And yes, we have snacks in our offices

Benefits listed herein may vary depending on the nature of your employment and the location where you work.

Axon is a total compensation company, meaning compensation is made up of base pay, bonus, and stock awards. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: level, function, training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, geographic market, and often a combination of all these factors. Our benefits offer an array of options to help support you physically, financially and emotionally through the big milestones and in your everyday life. To see more details on our benefits offerings please visit https://www.axon.com/careers .

Base Pay Range

$150,000 — $240,000 USD

Don’t meet every single requirement? That's ok. At Axon, we Aim Far. We think big with a long-term view because we want to reinvent the world to be a safer, better place. We are also committed to building diverse teams that reflect the communities we serve.

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they check every box in the job description. If you’re excited about this role and our mission to Protect Life but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification listed here, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Axon’s mission is to Protect Life and is committed to the well being and safety of its employees as well as Axon’s impact on the environment. All Axon employees must be aware of and committed to the appropriate environmental, health, and safety regulations, policies, and procedures. Axon employees are empowered to report safety concerns as they arise and activities potentially impacting the environment.

We are an equal opportunity employer that promotes justice, advances equity and fosters inclusion. We're committed to hiring the best talent — regardless of race, creed, color, ancestry, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances — and empowering all of our employees so they can do their best work. If you have a disability or special need that requires assistance or accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please email [e-mail]. Please note that this email address is for accommodation purposes only. Axon will not respond to inquiries for other purposes.

Some roles may also require legal eligibility to work in a firearms environment.