Director, Forward Deployed Engineering - Manufacturing

The role

The Director, Forward Deployed Engineering leads the technical arm of Customer Programs. This person translates customer requirements into manufacturing commitments by performing discovery and shaping technical solutions.

What you will do

• Own the technical relationship with customer engineering, program, and leadership teams.
• Embed with customers to observe operations, map processes, and interview stakeholders.
• Shape solutions that maximize customer output and align with Hadrian's direction.
• Partner with Customer Programs as their forward deployed engineering arm.
• Build, manage, and develop a technical team.
• Scope new customer engagements by reviewing requirements, drawings, and specifications.
• Evaluate requirements using first-principles engineering judgment.
• Hand off scoped commitments to the Build Engineering organization.
• Drive leverage by turning recurring customer patterns into repeatable scoping approaches.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Manufacturing, or a related engineering field and 8+ years of manufacturing or manufacturing engineering experience, or 12+ years of that experience without
• 3+ years managing technical teams (direct reports).
• Experience in a customer-facing technical role.
• Ability to lead a technical team in a customer-facing capacity.
• Ability to run structured customer discovery.
• Strong first-principles engineering judgment.
• Fluency reading and interpreting engineering drawings, specifications, GD&T, and manufacturing process requirements.
• Experience scoping or defining manufacturing work: DFM, make-vs-buy, process planning, tooling strategy, or production launch.

Nice to have

• Experience in aerospace, defense, maritime, or other high-complexity, high-mix manufacturing environments.
• Background spanning both a scaling/startup environment and a mature manufacturing organization.
• Exposure to precision machining, castings, forgings, sheet metal, or additive processes across metals and composites.
• Experience working alongside sales, program management, or commercial teams on new customer engagements.
• Exposure to manufacturing software and automation (MES/ERP, CAM automation, robotics, factory data systems).
• A track record of building repeatable systems and templates.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans
• 401k
• Relocation support may be provided for certain situations
• Flexible vacation policy
• Equity

Before you apply

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, you must be a U.S. citizen or national, lawful permanent resident, protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the

About the company

Hadrian is building autonomous factories to reindustrialize America by combining AI, advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing. They help aerospace and defense companies build mission-critical systems faster and at lower cost.