Archetype - Forward Deployed Engineer at Arsenal Pulse (San Francisco, CA)

Arsenal Pulse· San Francisco, CA·6d ago

Role details

Work type

Onsite

Employment

Full-Time

Job description

04 — FORWARD DEPLOYED ENGINEERS (FDE)

Forward Deployed Engineers (FDE) Arsenal Pulse sourced from: Saronic Technologies, AnySignal, Physical Intelligence, Corridor AI, Shield AI — 93 profiles analyzed

3+ years of experience Any location in the united states

Archetype Title Variants Prior Employers Education Signal

Key Qualifier

Defense / Maritime FDE Sr. FDE, Forward Deployed Engineer, Field Services Engineer Palantir, US Navy, NAVSEA, Leidos, Booz Allen CS, EE, Systems Eng, Naval Engineering Shipboard ops or DoD field deployment experience Robotics / Autonomy FDE Forward Deployed Robotics Engineer, Field Engineer Boston Dynamics, Palantir, SpaceX, iRobot Robotics, Mechanical Eng, CS Hands-on robot deployment and live software debugging Palantir Alumni FDE Forward Deployed Engineer, Full Stack Engineer Palantir Technologies CS, Math, Physics Palantir FDE program graduate — highest signal profile Software Generalist FDE FDE, Forward Deployed SW Engineer, Solutions Engineer Anduril, Scale AI, Verizon Federal, SAIC CS, Software Eng, Information Systems Customer-facing engineering and live system operations UAS / Comms Field Engineer Field Services Eng UAS, FDE, RF Field Engineer Shield AI, Skydio, L3Harris, General Atomics EE, Aerospace, CS UAS operator cert or RF systems field experience

GEM CANDIDATES IN YOUR DATABASE

Gem candidates: Palantir Alumni FDE Name Title Company LinkedIn Alex Barrera-Waters Forward Deployed Software Engineer Palantir Technologies linkedin.com/in/alexbawa Nathan Hunsberger Forward Deployed Software Engineer Palantir Technologies linkedin.com/in/nathan-hunsberger Avoy Datta Forward Deployed AI Engineer Palantir linkedin.com/in/avoy-datta

Gem candidates: Software / Field FDE Name Title Company LinkedIn Jason Chao Forward Deployed Engineer Tech linkedin.com/in/jchao01 Tom Kimbrell Forward Deployed Engineer Stuut linkedin.com/in/tom-kimbrell-773a6a90

LINKEDIN BOOLEAN (SALES NAVIGATOR / RECRUITER)

LinkedIn Boolean Search title:"forward deployed engineer" AND (Palantir OR Anduril OR "Shield AI") NOT recruiter NOT intern "forward deployed" AND (defense OR maritime OR robotics OR autonomy) AND engineer title:"forward deployed engineer" AND (navy OR DoD OR "special operations") NOT intern "FDE" AND (Palantir OR Anduril) AND ("field deployment" OR "customer site") NOT staffing

GOOGLE X-RAY (SITE:LINKEDIN.COM)

Google X-Ray Search site:linkedin.com/in "forward deployed engineer" "Palantir" -intitle:"jobs" site:linkedin.com/in "forward deployed engineer" ("defense" OR "maritime" OR "autonomous") "engineer" site:linkedin.com/in "forward deployed robotics engineer" ("Boston Dynamics" OR "iRobot" OR "Physical Intelligence") site:linkedin.com/in "field engineer" ("UAS" OR "unmanned" OR "autonomous systems") ("DoD" OR "Navy" OR "NAVSEA")

Palantir FDE alumni are the single highest-signal pool. Build a persistent Palantir alumni list and refresh quarterly. For maritime FDE, ex-Navy officers with CS/EE backgrounds are rare but perfect for Saronic-type clients.

Why work at Arsenal Pulse

Boutique, mission-driven culture: Small team (26 people) focused on high-impact work. Described as an “awkward family” with a close-knit, non-corporate vibe.
Growth and earning potential: “Real opportunity to make real money” — not a churn-and-burn agency; hires recruiters and sourcers to scale.
Flexibility: Likely remote/hybrid (not explicitly stated; typical for boutique recruiting firms).
Ownership and variety: Recruiters own searches end-to-end and work with a diverse set of cutting-edge defense/tech companies.
Company culture: Emphasizes quality, teamwork, and purpose over metrics. Team members have backgrounds at Anduril, Meta, Coinbase, and other top tech firms.

About Arsenal Pulse

Company Overview

One-liner: Arsenal Pulse is a boutique recruiting and talent advisory firm that helps venture-backed defense, aerospace, manufacturing, gov-tech, and energy companies hire top-tier talent.
Entity Type: Private (bootstrapped; early stage)
Headquarters: United States (specific city not publicly listed)
Founded: Not publicly disclosed; founded in the past several years
Founders: Mike Moriarty (CEO & Co-Founder), Geo Saba (Co-Founder)

Core Business

Primary industry: Staffing and Recruiting (specialist in defense, aerospace, manufacturing, gov-tech, energy)
Target customers: VC-backed seed to Series C companies building in defense, aerospace, energy, and national security sectors; also pre-seed and later-stage select clients; mission-driven organizations.
Mission: To place outlier talent in roles that strengthen the nation’s future, with a focus on quality over volume.

Products & Services

Contingent Search: Pay-for-performance model for urgent hires (4 or fewer, or 5+ searches). High-touch sourcing.
Executive Search: Retained, discreet process to secure senior leaders (C-suite, VP) with rigorous vetting and compensation benchmarking.
Fractional Head of Talent: Part-time senior talent leader to build recruiting infrastructure and strategy without a full-time hire.
Strategic Advisory: Pre-agreed hours per week of coaching for CEOs or in-house recruiters, focused on hiring strategy/org design.
Board Search: Recruiting board members with governance and mission alignment; access to a proprietary network of 250+ former senior government officials across defense, aerospace, energy, transportation.

Market Standing

Valuation: Not publicly available (private, bootstrapped).
Key Metric: 26 employees as of latest data. Annual revenue not disclosed.
Notable Investors/Partners: Not applicable (no external funding disclosed). Partners include mission-driven defense/tech startups (e.g., Anduril Industries, Nominal, Meta, Coinbase, others as former employers of team members).
Growth Signals: +4.3% monthly employee growth; 2,827 monthly website visits (+63.6% monthly traffic growth); global rank #4,934,854 (small but growing). Reports a time-to-fill under 35 days.

Competitive Advantages

Specialized boutique model: Takes on fewer searches per client to ensure deep focus and high-quality placements, contrasting with high-volume agencies.
Mission alignment: Recruits exclusively for companies building “technologies and defenses that strengthen our nation,” creating a strong brand and candidate pull in defense/national security.
Proprietary network: 250+ former senior government officials for board searches; deep relationships in defense, aerospace, energy.
Data-driven process: Tracks time-to-fill by client and role; uses AI tools for sourcing efficiency.
Fractional and advisory offerings: Provides strategic HR leadership that goes beyond placement, helping companies scale effectively.

Strategic Focus

Scale its team of recruiters and sourcers (actively hiring) to meet growing demand from VC-backed defense/gov-tech startups.
Continue to deepen specialization in defense, aerospace, manufacturing, gov-tech, and energy sectors.
Build long-term partnerships with seed-to-Series C companies at critical hiring inflection points.
Expand advisory and fractional services to support org design and talent strategy.

Sources