About the role
As the Forward Deployed Engineering Manager, you will lead the team that puts Auterion's robotic systems to work with customers in the field. We build complete systems: vehicles, sensors, onboard compute, radio links, autonomy software, and ground control. Your job is to understand how all of it fits together and to make it work in real missions.
You will lead your team through the entire customer engagement, from discovery and integration to field trials and handover. You are not a hardware specialist. You are a systems engineer who can trace a problem across every layer of the system, lead people well, and earn the trust of demanding customers.
Responsibilities and Duties
Team Leadership & Mentorship: Lead and grow a cross-functional team of Forward Deployed Engineers covering systems integration and software. Hire, coach, and develop your engineers. Build a culture of ownership and proactive problem-solving.
Accountability: Keep the bar high for yourself and your team. Work directly with stakeholders across the company. You will have a close relationship with the CTO, CEO, VP of Engineering, and the engineering directors.
Field Deployment Oversight: Own technical delivery of customer deployments in demanding, non-standard environments. This covers system configuration, connectivity, mission readiness, and operation under environmental constraints.
System Integration: Act as the technical lead for high-stakes customer integrations. Ensure the full system works end to end: vehicle, payloads, onboard compute, communication links, autonomy software, and ground control.
Field Troubleshooting: Diagnose failures across hardware, firmware, software, and communications. Use logs, telemetry, and structured debugging to find root causes fast.
Stakeholder Management: Serve as the primary technical contact for defense and enterprise customers. Translate operational requirements into deployment plans that account for system performance, link quality, power, and mission constraints. Run technical meetings, demos, and field days.
Feedback Loop & Release Coordination: Work closely with Product and R&D to feed field results and real-world edge cases back into the product. Coordinate with R&D on platform releases so customer deployments stay current and stable.
Qualifications and Skills
Systems Engineering: 7+ years in technical roles in robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles, or comparable complex embedded systems. You understand the full system end to end and how a change in one subsystem affects the others.
Leadership Experience: 3+ years managing a technical, customer-facing team (Field Engineers, Forward Deployed Engineers, Solutions Architects, or similar). You have dealt with underperformance and built team culture deliberately.
Software Skills: Comfortable working in Linux. You write Python, read C++, and use Git. You debug from logs and telemetry, not only at the bench.
Hardware Fluency: You understand hardware at integration level: power, sensors, interfaces, and RF basics. You do not need to be a hardware designer.
Field Deployment Expertise: Hands-on experience with field-deployed systems where "turning it off and on again" isn't always an option. Understanding of networking and radio communication is a major plus.
Crisis Management: Proven ability to troubleshoot critical failures in the field under high pressure and with limited physical access to the hardware.
Customer Presence: Composure and credibility in front of demanding customers. You communicate clearly with engineers and decision-makers alike.
Languages: Fluent English. German is a strong plus.
Work Authorization: Must hold EU citizenship and be eligible to work in the European Union without restriction.
Nice to Have
Experience with PX4, ArduPilot, or ROS2
Background in defense or government programs
Eligibility for German security clearance
Benefits
Flexible working hours
Stock Options
Generous holiday allowance
Pension plan
Extended social security package
Enhanced maternity & paternity leave
Wellpass membership
About Auterion
We are building the leading software platform for AI-powered autonomous systems for enterprise and government customers. Our team is supporting the most important missions and solving the most challenging problems.
At Auterion, we bring together the sharpest minds who love to solve the hardest problems. Join a vibrant team built on innovation, openness, and excellence, where you’ll be empowered to develop ideas, collaborate across all levels, and make an impact that matters.
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