Forward-Deployed Solution Engineer - International

Role Overview

Forward-Deployed Solution Engineer – International at Noda AI. Based in Bahrain with home office in Austin, TX. This role lands at either Senior Solution Engineer (L5) or Solution Architect (L6) depending on demonstrated depth.

Company Overview

Noda AI is a veteran-owned Series A defense technology company building the orchestration layer for autonomous unmanned systems. The platform — URZA — coordinates fleets of heterogeneous vehicles across air, sea, and land for defense and intelligence customers.

Role Purpose

Lead URZA deployment and customer-facing technical delivery end-to-end at customer sites in defense and military operating environments. Serve as the senior engineering presence on the ground, represent Noda AI in customer technical reviews, and build reusable engagement scaffolding for the broader organization.

Key Responsibilities

Deployment & Operations

• Lead URZA deployments end-to-end at customer sites in Department of War and military operating environments.
• Configure URZA for each customer's mission and ConOps.
• Operate independently within an engagement and escalate cross-engagement trade-offs as needed.

Integration & Systems

• Integrate URZA with third-party C2 systems, sensors, software APIs, and external data sources including weather, reconnaissance, and intelligence feeds.
• Diagnose and debug across multiple system layers in field conditions.

Customer & Stakeholder Engagement

• Run customer technical reviews and operator training.
• Partner directly with Mission Leads and Field Operations on engagement coordination.
• Hold customer technical authority and represent Noda AI with credibility and precision.

Documentation & Knowledge Transfer

• Build reusable engagement scaffolding including runbooks, ConOps templates, and integration playbooks.
• Write deployment guides, ConOps documents, and after-action reports.
• Mentor mid-level Solution Engineers and define integration patterns that other Solution Engineers reuse.

Architecture & Strategy

• Own URZA deployment architecture across multiple concurrent engagements (Solution Architect level).
• Influence URZA roadmap and the integration layer directly through field learning.

Qualifications & Experience

• 5+ years of full-stack engineering experience with significant customer-facing or forward-deployed work.
• Demonstrated deployment experience in Department of War, military, or comparable operational environments.
• Prior defense, autonomy, or robotics company experience preferred.
• Exposure to classified, ITAR, or CMMC environments preferred.
• U.S. citizenship; able to obtain a security clearance.
• Active Secret clearance required.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong proficiency in Python, C++, or Rust.
• Advanced Linux fluency.
• Networking depth including TCP/IP, UDP, multicast, and routing.
• Systems thinking across compute, network, vehicle behavior, and ConOps.
• Field-grounded; comfortable diagnosing in degraded conditions on a live exercise clock.
• Documentation-disciplined.
• Customer-credible; holds technical authority without overstating or underselling.
• Self-directed; thrives in ambiguity.
• Hands-on experience with autonomous systems or unmanned vehicles (UAS, UGV, USV, UUV) preferred.
• Familiarity with tactical C2 systems (TAK, Cursor-on-Target, Link 16) or pub-sub middleware (Zenoh, DDS) preferred.
• Experience integrating sensors, third-party APIs, or external data feeds preferred.

Additional Information

Travel & Location

• Location: Bahrain with home office in Austin, TX.
• Travel: Mission-dependent, up to approximately 75% for OCONUS rotations.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans.
• 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan with company match.
• Equity grants for new hires.
• Unlimited PTO.
• 11 paid holidays.
• Extremely generous company holiday calendar, including a holiday hiatus in November and December.
• Generous Parental Leave.
• Military Leave for annual training or service requirements.
• FSA.
• DCFSA.
• HSA.
• Professional Development Opportunities.
• Access to One Medical.
• Free mental health resources available 24/7 including therapy.
• Additional work-life services including free legal and financial support.

Growth Path

Senior Solution Engineer → Solution Architect → Principal Solution Architect. Lateral moves to Engineering Manager (Solutions Engineering), Product Manager, or Mission Lead.

Export Control Compliance

To conform to U.S. government export control regulations, including ITAR and EAR, you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or otherwise eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State or U.S. Department of Commerce.