--- title: 'All Levels: Forward Deployed Engineer at Hadrian Automation' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/all-levels-forward-deployed-engineer-hadrian-automation-los-angeles-ysfqsg0ghhdm' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-11-10' --- # All Levels: Forward Deployed Engineer at Hadrian Automation - **Company:** [Hadrian Automation](https://feeny.ai/companies/hadrian-automation) - **Location:** Los Angeles, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-07-06 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-10 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/hadrian-automation/cccab6a1-9ed2-4890-b331-5e503cefa799 ## Job description Hadrian - Manufacturing the Future Hadrian is building autonomous factories to reindustrialize America. By combining AI, advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we help aerospace and defense companies build rockets, satellites, aircraft, ships, and other mission-critical systems up to 10x faster and at significantly lower cost. Following our $1.37B Series D at a $7.87B valuation, Hadrian is rapidly expanding our manufacturing footprint, launching new capabilities across welding, casting, forging, electronics, additive manufacturing, and more, while scaling our Factory-as-a-Service platform to transform how critical products are built. Backed by leading investors including JPMorgan Chase, Valor Equity Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, 137 Ventures, Lux Capital, T. Rowe Price, and Morgan Stanley, we’re building the future of American manufacturing—and looking for exceptional people to help make it happen. If you’re ready to take on the most challenging and rewarding work of your career while helping create American manufacturing jobs for generations to come, you’re exactly who we’re looking for. ## The Role Forward Deployed Engineers embed on enterprise customer programs and do whatever it takes to make them succeed. Sometimes that means providing connective tissue: configuring and integrating Opus, Hadrian's software and robotics platform, for the specific needs of a program. Just as often it means building new products at the edge, including ones the customer didn't know to ask for. You'll drive the full loop from discovery to deployment, with no layers between you and the customer. The best of what you build won't stay bespoke. The products you create at the edge often become part of Opus, which makes this one of the sharpest sources of new product discovery at Hadrian. This is not a customer success or deployment-support role — you'll spend most of your time building. The team is early and the people who join now will define what it becomes. ## What You’ll Do - Work a program end to end — from the first ambiguous conversation through discovery, build, deployment, and iteration. You stay on it from the messy start to running in production. - Communicate across the full stakeholder range — customer leadership, program managers, and the operators and engineers on both their team and Hadrian's — translating technical constraints into decisions non-technical stakeholders can act on. - Partner with the teams building Opus to go deep where a program needs it — architecting the integrations, data models, and configuration that let the platform run against a customer's real systems and production reality. - Build net-new software to make programs succeed — standalone applications, custom workflows, and integrations that solve problems Opus doesn't yet cover. Some stays bespoke to one program; some becomes part of the platform. - Ship fast and iterate. Get something working into users' hands early rather than perfecting in isolation. - Turn field learnings into platform direction. Feed concrete requirements back to the Opus teams and help decide when a one-off solution should graduate into the platform. ## What We’re Looking For - Strong builder with high ownership — comfortable going 0 to 1 and shipping in ambiguous environments where no one hands you the spec. - AI-native, and relentless about it. We're looking for ridiculously high-pace, high-agency engineers who use AI to compress everything — discovery, prototyping, execution. You can show us concretely how AI already makes you multiples faster, and you're hungry to push it further. - Comfortable across the whole stack — everything from UI/UX work to designing backend systems, reaching for whatever technology best fits the problem rather than defaulting to what you know. - Strong product instincts. You think about what to build, not just how to build it. - Experience working directly with customers or end users, translating ambiguous needs into concrete, shipped solutions. - Communication range. You can engage operators and program managers on the factory floor and senior program stakeholders in the same week, and translate complex technical constraints into terms that drive non-technical decisions. - Driven by the mission and the tempo. You get energized by the impact you're having on the programs you work on, and you care deeply about delivering at the pace our customers need. What Will Set You Apart - Founder or founding-engineer experience — you've taken a new product zero to one. - Prior forward-deployed, solutions engineering, or technical consulting experience — you've built directly against messy customer reality before. - Domain background in aerospace, defense, or manufacturing — or anywhere hardware and software have to meet. - A visible body of work — a strong GitHub presence or a portfolio of projects you've shipped outside of work. Logistics This role is based out of our Los Angeles (Torrance) or San Francisco Bay Area office. You'll periodically travel to spend time on-site with customers and operators — enough to understand their reality firsthand — but this is not a travel-heavy or long-deployment role. ## Compensation For this role, the target salary range is $223,000 - $359,000 (actual range may vary based on experience). This is the lowest to highest salary we reasonably and in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the range may be modified in the future. An employee's pay position within the salary range will be based on several factors, including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs. ## Benefits for Full-time Employees - Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees 401k - Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need. - Flexible vacation policy - Equity ITAR Requirements To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) 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 required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here. Use of AI in hiring Hadrian uses AI-assisted tools in our recruiting and hiring processes to help our team work more efficiently. This may include tools that help organize and analyze recruiting data, as well as an AI-powered notetaker that can record and transcribe interviews and help coordinate feedback. These tools support our team and are not used to make hiring decisions. All candidate evaluations and hiring decisions are performed by humans. If an interview will be recorded, you will be notified in advance and may opt out at any time with no impact on your candidacy. Candidate data processed through these tools is subject to the same protections described in our [Privacy Policy](https://www.hadrian.co/privacy-policy). Consideration of Criminal History Hadrian will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of all applicable laws. We do not ask about criminal history on our application, and we do not consider criminal history before making a conditional offer of employment. Hadrian Is An Equal Opportunity Employer Hadrian does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, marital status, mental status, physical disability or any other legally protected status. When necessary, the Company also makes reasonable accommodations for disabled candidates and employees, including for candidates or employees who are disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. ## About Hadrian Automation ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Hadrian builds AI-powered autonomous factories to manufacture precision components for the aerospace and defense industries, aiming to reindustrialize American manufacturing. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series C) - **Headquarters**: Los Angeles, California, USA - **Founded**: 2021 - **Founders**: Chris Power ## Core Business - **Primary Industry**: Defense and Space Manufacturing, Advanced Manufacturing - **Target Customers**: B2B; startups, Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers, and major defense contractors across space, shipbuilding, and aviation. - **Mission/Purpose**: To rebuild America’s industrial base with highly automated factories that combine process engineering, AI, and robotics, helping space and defense manufacturers produce at scale in the U.S. and giving American workers the tools to compete globally. ## Products & Services - **Precision Components Manufacturing**: Produces precision parts for aerospace and defense customers, from prototype to production. - **Opus (Factory Autonomy Platform)**: A full-stack, AI-powered platform that interprets legacy designs and automates manufacturing and inspection processes, enabling world-class speed, quality, and utilization. - **Factories-as-a-Service**: Dedicated manufacturing or inspection cells deployed in Hadrian facilities or customer sites, as well as entire product, assembly, and component factories designed and operated by Hadrian. - **Atlas Supply Chain Platform**: A "Supply Chain as a Service" offering that gives customers a single, scalable path from early development through full-rate production, managing end-to-end procurement across a vetted network of suppliers. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed. - **Key Metric**: Total Funding of **$363.95M** across 8 rounds. - **Revenue**: Annual revenue estimated at **$3.0M** (per LinkedIn). - **Notable Investors**: Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, T. Rowe Price (led Series C). - **Growth Signals**: - Headcount of **325 employees** (as of recent data), with **+112.9% YoY growth**. - **156 active job postings** (as of mid-2026), with job postings up **+457.1% YoY**. - Opened a new 270,000 sq ft factory in Mesa, AZ (Factory 3), creating 350 new jobs. - Unveiled **Factory Four**, a 2.2 million sq ft facility in Huntsville, AL. - Launched **Hadrian Maritime** to serve naval production. - Acquired **Datum Source** (2024) to strengthen supply chain capabilities. - Added veteran security and defense leaders (Caleb Sima as CSO, Wallis Laughrey as VP of Munitions) in June 2026. ## Competitive Advantages - **Full-Stack Automation**: Their AI-powered "Opus" platform automates the entire manufacturing and inspection process, reducing reliance on skilled labor and increasing speed. - **Speed & Cost**: Claims to deliver parts up to 10x faster and 2x cheaper than the legacy defense industrial base. - **New American Workforce**: Their system trains factory technicians in 30 days or less, solving the skilled labor shortage. - **Flexible Capacity**: Offers a "Factory-as-a-Service" model, providing dedicated facilities or production lines integrated into customer sites, reducing overhead for clients. - **Deep Defense & Space Focus**: A clear, singular focus on the most demanding and high-stakes manufacturing challenges in the U.S., creating a strong moat. ## Strategic Focus - **Scaling Production Capacity**: Rapidly expanding factory footprint (Torrance, Mesa, Huntsville) to meet surging demand from defense and space programs. - **Broadening Capabilities**: Expanding into new domains like naval production (Hadrian Maritime) and munitions. - **Deepening the Tech Stack**: Continuing to invest in Opus and the Atlas platform to drive further automation and efficiency. - **National Security Mission**: Positioning itself as a critical partner in reindustrializing the U.S. defense industrial base. ## Why Work Here - **Mission-Driven**: A clear and compelling mission to rebuild America’s industrial base and enable a free, abundant, spacefaring future. - **High-Growth Environment**: Explosive growth (headcount up 113% YoY) with hundreds of open roles across engineering, manufacturing, and business functions. - **Impactful Work**: Directly contribute to building the factories and software that produce critical components for rockets, satellites, jets, and ships. - **Culture of Solving Hard Problems**: The company explicitly seeks people who "solve hard problems" across software, hardware, and operations. - **Locations**: Major hubs in **Los Angeles, CA**; **Mesa, AZ**; and **Washington D.C.**, with a new massive facility in **Huntsville, AL**. - **Diverse Roles**: Actively hiring for Software Engineers, Manufacturing Engineers, Robotics Engineers, Technicians, and business talent. - **Backing**: Strong financial backing from top-tier VC firms (a16z, Founders Fund, Lux Capital), providing stability and resources. ## Sources 1. [hadrian.co](https://www.hadrian.co/) 2. [hadrian.co/about](https://www.hadrian.co/about) 3. [hadrian.co/careers](https://www.hadrian.co/careers) 4. [linkedin.com/company/hadrianautomation](https://www.linkedin.com/company/hadrianautomation) 5. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/hadrian-1) ## Other roles at Hadrian Automation - [Manufacturing Engineer, Production](https://feeny.ai/job/manufacturing-engineer-production-hadrian-automation-los-angeles-yf056vdrxq9r) — Los Angeles, CA - [Build Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/build-engineer-hadrian-automation-los-angeles-d5vhyhx852ha) — Los Angeles, CA - [Technical Program Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-program-manager-hadrian-automation-los-angeles-y9ahmscvcs4p) — Los Angeles, CA - [Engineering Manager, Materials Test](https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-manager-materials-test-hadrian-automation-los-angeles-1g74acv8ec7j) — Los Angeles, CA - [Capital Markets Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/capital-markets-manager-hadrian-automation-los-angeles-dd7x3f4hec1h) — Los Angeles, CA - [Capital Markets Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/capital-markets-associate-hadrian-automation-los-angeles-cjc8r5wmzxkp) — Los Angeles, CA - [Training Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/training-specialist-hadrian-automation-cherokee-ted0m7yq8ec3) — Cherokee, AL - [Senior Manager, Purchasing](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manager-purchasing-hadrian-automation-los-angeles-fffxhf3egx01) — Los Angeles, CA - [Program Finance Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/program-finance-associate-hadrian-automation-los-angeles-7kzgcx57nn0z) — Los Angeles, CA - [Corporate Finance Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/corporate-finance-associate-hadrian-automation-los-angeles-ftw0g368w6z6) — Los Angeles, CA