About the role

We are looking for a Forward Deployed Engineer with 3–5 years of experience to embed directly on customer factory floors — building tailor-made software solutions for the companies manufacturing rockets, nuclear reactors, eVTOLs, and autonomous vehicles. This is a rare blend of elite engineering and customer impact, where your code ships into some of the most exciting manufacturing environments on the planet.

What will you be doing?

Deploy to customer sites (aerospace, defense, nuclear, robotics) to deeply understand their operations and build custom software solutions on top of First Resonance's ION platform
Own complex database work — designing schemas, optimizing SQL queries, and building data models that power real-time factory operations
Write full-stack production code (React/TypeScript frontend, Python backend, PostgreSQL) that feeds back into First Resonance's core codebase
Build relationships with customer engineering and ops teams, acting as the technical point person during engagements
Contribute to First Resonance's upcoming AI product, helping showcase and deploy it across customer factory floors

Key Requirements

Strong database fundamentals — must be able to design complex schemas, optimize SQL queries, and think through data modeling problems (this is tested directly in the interview)
3+ years of full-stack engineering experience, with a clear backend/database lean (frontend-heavy engineers are not a strong fit)
Either: (A) enterprise-facing software engineering experience (e.g., ERP, logistics/warehouse platforms, customer-deployed tools) OR (B) engineering experience at a manufacturing company (e.g., SpaceX, Relativity, Joby, Blue Origin)
Strong communication skills and comfort building rapport with customers — this role is ~20% customer-facing
Must be a US Citizen or Green Card holder (ITAR compliance — no exceptions)

First Resonance is a Series A-backed software company (founded 2019, $34M+ raised from investors including Craft Ventures, Emerson, Third Prime, Blue Bear Capital, and Fortitude Ventures) building the ION Factory OS — the leading operating system for modern manufacturers. ION gives hardware companies of every size a flexible, API-first platform to manage day-to-day factory operations, from production workflows and parts tracking to supply chain procurement and quality control. Their customers are building some of the most ambitious physical products on the planet: micro nuclear reactors, next-generation eVTOLs, space rockets, autonomous vehicles, robotic farms, and more — and collectively, those customers raised over $10 billion in the past year alone, a testament to the momentum in the advanced manufacturing space. First Resonance is on a mission to re-industrialize America by empowering engineers, operators, and managers with the tools they need to push the boundaries of the physical world.

The team (~50 people, headquartered in Los Angeles, CA) is AI-native in how they build software, and they're rapidly scaling their Forward Deployed Engineering function — growing from 1 to 6 FDEs in under a year and targeting 10+ — as a core driver of customer stickiness and revenue growth. The culture is startup-through-and-through: fast-paced, mission-driven, and deeply connected to the cutting-edge industries they serve.

Forward Deployed Engineer (SF)

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