Forward Deployed Engineer

Description

As a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), you operate at the customer edge - deploying SDA in real industrial environments, accelerating Proofs of Value (PoVs), and turning real-world execution into durable product improvements. You sit at the intersection of customers, product, engineering, and go-to-market, ensuring that what we build works in production, not just in theory.

This is a high-ownership, hands-on role for engineers who thrive in complex OT environments, enjoy working directly with customers, and want to shape both product and market adoption through execution.

Responsibilities

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you are responsible for accelerating customer adoption while systematically feeding execution learnings back into the product. You work directly in live customer environments, validate SDA’s capabilities under real constraints, and help scale technical knowledge across the company.

Customer Execution & PoVs

• Lead and execute technical Proofs of Value (PoVs) and early deployments in live customer environments.

• Install, configure, and validate the SDA platform together with customer IT, OT, and automation teams.

• Identify and resolve execution blockers related to networking, security, automation tooling, and workflows - without compromising safety or production stability.

• Act as a primary technical contact during PoVs, onboarding, and early production rollouts.

Product Signal & Feedback Loop

• Capture structured customer signal: product gaps, usability issues, performance constraints, and recurring friction points.

• Distinguish customer-specific issues from repeatable patterns that should inform the product roadmap.

• Translate raw execution feedback into clear problem statements and outcome-oriented insights.

• Partner with Product Management and Engineering on prioritization, validation, and rollout of fixes and new capabilities.

• Validate solutions in customer environments and close the loop with customers through visible product progress.

Sales & Go-To-Market Enablement

• Support the sales motion as a technical expert: join sales calls, demos, and account strategy sessions where technical depth adds value.

• Represent SDA’s engineering organization to prospects, building confidence in execution capability and product maturity.

• Support customer onboarding and rollout alongside—or independent of—Sales representatives.

• Internally enable Sales with relevant technical knowledge grounded in real execution.

Technical Enablement & Content

• Own the creation of reusable, execution-grounded technical assets derived from customer work.

• Contribute to:

  • SDA Academy training content and hands-on labs

  • Technical webinars and workshops

  • Whitepapers, solution guides, and technical blogs

  • Technical demos, presentations, and recorded videos

• Ensure all technical content reflects real-world workflows, common failure modes, and proven best practices.

We offer

• A mission to fundamentally improve the productivity and sustainability of global manufacturing.

• A fast-scaling global deep-tech environment led by experienced industrial and software leaders.

• Competitive salary plus meaningful equity participation.

• High ownership, autonomy, and direct impact on product and customers.

• Flat hierarchies, short decision paths, and a strong execution culture.

• Exposure to cutting-edge industrial, cloud, and AI-driven technologies.

Basic Qualifications

• Strong hands-on experience in industrial automation and OT environments.

• Practical experience with PLC programming, commissioning, and troubleshooting in production or safety-critical systems.

• Experience with one or more major automation ecosystems (e.g., Siemens, Beckhoff, Rockwell Automation, CODESYS-based systems, B&R, Bosch Rexroth, WAGO).

• Familiarity with industrial networking, diagnostics, versioning, backups, and deployment workflows.

• Comfort operating across IT/OT boundaries, including networking and security considerations.

• Strong problem-solving skills and clear written and verbal communication.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with industrial robotics (e.g., KUKA, FANUC, ABB, Universal Robots, igus).

• Experience contributing to technical documentation, training, or customer-facing technical content.

• Prior startup or scale-up experience with a strong operator mindset.

• Experience working directly with enterprise or industrial customers.

To Apply: Please send your resume and a short note outlining why this role and why SDA (please include one example of a customer-facing or production deployment you led end-to-end).

About us

Software Defined Automation is an industrial deep-tech software company that enables Manufacturing-as-Code through the creation of completely new degrees of freedom for the automated configuration, operation, maintenance, and continuous change of production plants. We have set ourselves a great mission, targeting the resource efficiency of one-third of the global value creation and energy consumption. Software Defined Automation is the enabler for AI-based self-optimizing production, thereby reaching the next technological innovation step function in productivity for the world.
For this new world of Software Defined Automation, we build a team that masters both Cloud as well as real-time shop floor operations technology. Join our team with your high energy-driven nature, interest in industrial manufacturing, and motivation to push the boundaries from the cloud all the way to all moving things on the shop floor!