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Aurelius Systems is a VC-backed defense tech startup building autonomous, edge-deployed directed energy systems (laser weapons) for counter-UAS applications. The company operates from San Francisco with a manufacturing hub in Detroit and conducts weekly field tests on a private 400-acre range.
As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will lead demonstrations, field tests, and customer site integrations for the Archimedes system. You are a generalist engineer capable of working across mechanical, electrical, and software domains in real-world conditions. Your responsibilities include system setup and integration at customer sites, field troubleshooting and repair across all subsystems, pre-deployment checkout and post-deployment debrief, real-time integration of novel hardware and software in non-lab environments, customer-facing technical interaction during demos and pilots, and capturing field observations and operator feedback to inform engineering improvements. Between deployments, you'll conduct in-lab testing, characterization, and rig work.
You bring 3–8+ years of hands-on engineering or technician experience on real hardware systems that have left the lab. You have generalist depth across at least two of: mechanical, electrical, embedded software, or integration. You're skilled at hands-on troubleshooting with oscilloscopes, multimeters, basic shop tools, and command-line interfaces. You're comfortable presenting to and operating in front of customers, including military operators, and are travel-ready for field deployments in range conditions. Ideal candidates come from field service or test engineering at defense/aerospace companies, integration roles at hardware startups, military maintenance or test trades, motorsports, or robotics field teams—anywhere you owned a system at the test site.
You thrive when you've stood next to hardware in front of a customer during a failure and brought it back online. You're comfortable being the only engineer on site and maintain composure when systems fail. You operate with extreme bias for action, stay calm under pressure, characterize systems before customers do, and communicate clearly across operators, engineers, and customers. You're self-directed, identifying and executing next steps without being told.
Nice-to-have qualifications include military service, counter-UAS or directed energy experience, ROS2 or robotics field integration experience, active TS/SCI clearance or eligibility, and welding, machining, or fabrication skills. Education can be an AA, BS, MS, PhD, trade school, or military training—what you've fielded matters more than credentials.
The role is based in San Francisco with hybrid flexibility around core hours (Monday–Friday, 9–6). During sprints toward demos or field tests, the team ramps up nights and weekends; between sprints, intensity ramps down. You'll have direct access to leadership, real ownership over your work, and the opportunity to build more in one month than most engineers build in a year. The company operates at ~10 engineers with no layers between you and impact.
