Senior Forward Deployed Engineer

About the role

ABOUT US

Founded in 2021, Axion is at the forefront of transforming product quality and customer satisfaction in manufacturing. Our cutting-edge AI-powered platform empowers manufacturers to swiftly identify, thoroughly investigate, and effectively resolve quality issues while simultaneously elevating customer experiences and outcomes.

As trailblazers in end-to-end quality intelligence, we're setting new industry standards. Our innovative approach enables industrial, aerospace, consumer, and medtech manufacturers to harness the power of quality and post-market data, driving down costs and boosting business performance.

Our vision extends beyond mere problem-solving; we're committed to reshaping the future of manufacturing. By seamlessly integrating advanced AI technology with deep industry expertise, Axion is paving the way for smarter, safer, and more efficient production processes across diverse sectors.

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.

ABOUT THE ROLE

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.

Two paths into the role. You may have already worked as an FDE or customer-facing software engineer, with real ownership from discovery through deployment. You may also be a strong software engineer ready for more customer exposure. For that second path, meaningful manufacturing or industrial workflow experience is particularly important. We care more about what you've built and owned than whether you've held the FDE title.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

- 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.