Forward-Deployed Solution Engineer - International

Role Overview

Forward-Deployed Solution Engineer - International at Noda AI. Home office in Austin, TX; primary location Kuwait. This role can land at either Senior Solution Engineer (L5) or Solution Architect (L6) depending on demonstrated depth.

Company Overview

NODA is a veteran-owned Series A defense technology company building the orchestration layer for autonomous unmanned systems. The URZA platform 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 active customer programs in Department of War and military operating environments. Serve as the senior engineering presence on the ground, partner directly with Mission Leads and Field Operations, and represent NODA in customer technical reviews.

Key Responsibilities

Deployment & Configuration

• Own URZA deployments end-to-end at customer sites in DoW and military operating environments.
• Configure URZA for each customer's mission and Concept of Operations (ConOps).
• Integrate URZA with third-party Command & Control (C2) systems, sensors, software APIs, and external data sources including weather, reconnaissance, and intelligence feeds.

Customer Engagement & Leadership

• Lead customer technical reviews and operator training sessions.
• Partner with Mission Leads on engagement coordination and tactical execution.
• Represent NODA's technical authority with customers; hold credibility without overstating or underselling capabilities.

Knowledge Transfer & Mentorship

• Build reusable engagement scaffolding including runbooks, ConOps templates, and integration playbooks.
• Mentor mid-level Solution Engineers on deployment practices and technical integration.
• Document systems thinking across compute, network, vehicle behavior, and ConOps.

Documentation & Reporting

• Deliver runbooks, deployment guides, ConOps documents, and after-action reports.
• Maintain discipline in field documentation to support future engagements and institutional knowledge.

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.
• U.S. citizenship; able to obtain a security clearance.
• Active Secret clearance required.
• Preferred: Hands-on experience with autonomous systems or unmanned vehicles (UAS, UGV, USV, UUV).
• Preferred: 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: Prior defense, autonomy, or robotics company experience; classified, ITAR, or CMMC environment exposure.
• Preferred: Active security clearance.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong proficiency in Python, C++, or Rust.
• Advanced Linux fluency.
• Networking depth including TCP/IP, UDP, multicast, and routing.
• Field debugging across multiple system layers.
• Systems thinking across compute, network, vehicle behavior, and ConOps.
• Comfortable diagnosing in degraded conditions on a live exercise clock.
• Self-directed; thrives in ambiguity.
• Customer-credible technical communication and authority.

Additional Information

Travel & Work Pattern

• Mission-dependent travel up to approximately 75% (OCONUS rotations).
• Significant time on-site at customer locations.
• Significant time writing documentation and reports.

Clearance Requirement

• Active Secret clearance required.

Leveling

Senior Solution Engineer (L5): Owns URZA deployment for a single engagement. Leads on-site execution; partners with a more senior engineer on architecture decisions. Operates independently within an engagement; escalates cross-engagement trade-offs. Mentors mid-level SEs.

Solution Architect (L6): Owns URZA deployment architecture across multiple concurrent engagements. Defines integration patterns and ConOps templates that other SEs reuse. Holds customer technical authority where the customer expects an architect. Influences URZA roadmap and the integration layer directly through field learning.

Growth Path

Senior Solution Engineer → Solution Architect → Principal Solution Architect. Lateral opportunities: Engineering Manager (Solutions Engineering), Product Manager, Mission Lead.

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, plus free legal and financial support services.

Export Control Compliance

To conform to U.S. government export control regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (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 the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State or U.S. Department of Commerce.