Forward Deployed Engineering Lead

About the role

Orbital Industries is an AI‑driven industrial company that embeds frontier AI in the production of critical physical products. As the Forward Deployed Engineering Lead you will build and lead the Forward Deployed Engineering function, setting technical standards, delivery models and hiring the team. You will deliver complex, hands‑on deployments while scaling the capability across Orbital’s growing customer base.

Key responsibilities

• Deliver end‑to‑end customer deployments, writing production code, designing architectures and integrating CurieOS with heterogeneous customer systems.
• Own technical quality from prototype through production, ensuring reliability, maintainability and operational performance.
• Design and build systems that connect software, data and physical infrastructure such as simulation campaigns, digital twins, lab instruments, test rigs and CAD/PLM tools.
• Embed with customer teams to understand ambiguous R&D problems, translate them into technical approaches, set milestones and measure impact.
• Set KPIs for each engagement, track pre/post outcomes and report results to executive sponsors.

Required profile

• Significant experience in enterprise software delivery or forward‑deployed engineering, with a track record of complex deployments and production‑level code.
• Proven ability to build and lead a forward‑deployed engineering or solutions function, including hiring, setting standards and defining delivery models.
• Comfort moving between strategic conversations with R&D leadership and hands‑on debugging sessions with engineers.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals and respected technical judgement.
• Genuine interest in building software that enables breakthrough scientific and industrial applications.