---
title: 'Forward Deployed Engineer at SPAICE'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineer-spaice-london-kh6tp4s30jvq'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-06'
---

# Forward Deployed Engineer at SPAICE

- **Company:** SPAICE
- **Location:** London, United Kingdom
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-07-15
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-06
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/spaice-tech/144727c3-7cca-433d-b0e6-d67af9dbd7e2

## Job description

## ABOUT SPAICE

SPAICE is building the geospatial intelligence layer for autonomous vehicles operating where GNSS is unavailable, unreliable, or denied. Our Spatial AI enables drones and satellites to determine their position, understand their surroundings, and transform every detection into actionable, geo-referenced intelligence. From denied airspace on Earth to complex orbital environments, SPAICE delivers resilient navigation and persistent situational awareness in any condition.

At SPAICE, you’ll work on some of the hardest autonomy challenges across air and space, developing technology for GNSS-independent flight, orbital awareness, formation flying, and autonomous operations. You’ll work alongside a mission-driven team and leading aerospace and defence partners, turning advanced research into systems with a tangible impact on real-world missions.

## ABOUT THE ROLE

Autonomous drones operating in GPS-denied environments. Perception and navigation systems integrated into defence platforms. Spatial AI software deployed and validated during live field trials. Turning these capabilities into reliable operational systems requires more than strong technology. It requires engineers who can bridge the gap between our products, our customers, and the realities of deployment.

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you’ll work in small, highly technical teams and take ownership of high-stakes customer projects from initial requirements through integration, deployment, testing, and operational delivery.

You’ll act as the technical bridge between SPAICE’s Spatial AI and autonomy technology and our customers’ real-world platforms and operating environments. Your work will span software engineering, system configuration, robotics integration, networking, hardware interfaces, field testing, and customer collaboration.

This is a hands-on role for someone who can move comfortably between writing production code, debugging systems in the field, designing integration architectures, and communicating directly with defence, aerospace, and government stakeholders.

## WHAT YOU MIGHT WORK ON

- Space & defence missions. Deploy and operationalise SPAICE technology with defence organisations, aerospace companies, government customers, and platform manufacturers, from customer integration facilities to live operational environments.
- End-to-end system integration. Integrate SPAICE’s perception, navigation, and autonomy software with drones, satellites, robotic platforms, flight computers, sensors, autopilots, communication systems, and customer-built infrastructure.
- Software and systems engineering. Develop production-quality software, configure Linux-based systems, build deployment tooling, and troubleshoot issues across applications, operating systems, networks, and hardware interfaces.
- Customer platform integration. Bridge customer-built systems and SPAICE’s products through APIs, middleware, communication protocols, data pipelines, and custom software components.
- Deployment and field testing. Configure and validate systems on embedded computers and edge AI hardware, support flight and field trials, analyse system behaviour, and resolve technical problems under real operational constraints.

## WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

- M.S. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Robotics, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field.
- Strong C++ and Python skills.
- Experience integrating and deploying complex software systems.
- Broad knowledge of Linux, networking, embedded systems, robotics, or hardware integration.
- Ability to debug across software, operating systems, sensors, networks, and hardware.
- Experience with simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, or field trials.
- Strong problem-solving skills in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.
- Excellent communication and customer-facing skills.
- Willingness to travel to customer and test sites.

## PERKS & BENEFITS

- Competitive salary commensurate with experience and impact.
- Equity options – you will join us at the ground floor and share in the upside.
- Well‑being perks – access to premium gyms, climbing centers, and wellness programs.
- Team retreats & offsites – recent adventures include a half‑marathon in Formentera and a Los Angeles retreat during Oscars weekend.

## About SPAICE

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: SPAICE builds a spatial-AI autonomy operating system that turns aircraft, drones, and satellites into fully autonomous Spatial Agents capable of navigating and operating in GPS-denied and harsh environments.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Privately Held; early-stage with non-equity assistance funding)
- **Headquarters**: London, United Kingdom (with presence in Spain and an office in Rome, Italy)
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Matteo Cuccorese (Co-founder & CEO), Guillem Garrofé (Co-founder & CTO)

## Core Business
- Primary industry: Space Research and Technology / Defense & Autonomous Systems
- Target customers: Government/Defense agencies, aerospace prime contractors, and space mission operators (B2B/Enterprise)
- Mission statement: "Harness the power of machine intelligence to secure our nations and push the frontiers of space exploration"

## Products & Services
- **[SPAICE-OS](https://spaice.tech/)**: The autonomy operating system for aircraft and satellites — a spatial-AI software stack that provides real-time onboard perception, planning, and control for multi-domain autonomous missions.
- **Perception Stack**: Multi-sensor fusion (cameras, LiDAR, radar, event sensors) for situational awareness, terrain mapping, target detection/classification/tracking, and self-localization in GPS-denied environments.
- **Planning & Control Modules**: Algorithms for computing optimal trajectories and executing collision-free maneuvers in real time, onboard resource-constrained hardware.
- **ISR & C2 Solutions**: Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance capabilities and Command & Control distributed intelligence for defense applications.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (early-stage, privately held)
- **Total Funding**: Non-equity assistance rounds in 2023 (1 investor) and 2024 (2 investors) — specific amounts not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: 8 employees (+100% YoY headcount growth), with 3 active job postings
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Non-equity assistance from UK Space Agency (references to summer interns via UKSA), working alongside "leading aerospace and defense contractors"
- **Growth Signals**: Traffic growth of +1,136.1% year-over-year; team moved into first office; hiring spree underway; commitment to a #ZeroDebris future announced

## Competitive Advantages
- **GNSS-Independence**: Full autonomy in GPS-denied environments — a critical capability for both defense and space missions where satellite navigation is unavailable or jammed.
- **Multi-Domain Platform**: Single software stack that spans space (satellites), air (drones), and potentially ground vehicles — broader than competitors focused on one domain.
- **Edge-AI on Resource-Constrained Hardware**: Perception and control pipelines optimized to run in real time on flight processors and edge-AI chips (CUDA, TensorRT), not just cloud infrastructure.
- **Talent Density**: Small, world-class team with alumni from Imperial College London, Airbus Defence and Space, and top-tier institutions — high signal-to-noise ratio in engineering.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling the engineering team (active hiring for Computer Vision, Multimodal Sensing, and Simulation roles)
- Deepening multimodal sensor fusion capabilities for increasingly complex mission profiles
- Expanding from space into adjacent defense and dual-use autonomous systems
- Building towards satellite life extension, in-orbit servicing, and space debris removal use cases

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-Driven Impact**: Work on real, deployed missions where code flies on satellites and drones — tangible outcomes in space and defense.
- **Small, High-Caliber Team**: Join at the "ground floor" (founded 2023, 8 people) with equity options and direct impact on product direction.
- **Work Policy**: Mix of in-office and hybrid options available per role (London HQ with additional presence in Spain and Italy).
- **Perks**: Competitive salary, equity options, access to premium gyms and wellness programs, team retreats and offsites (recent examples include a half-marathon in Formentera and a Los Angeles retreat during Oscars weekend).
- **Tech Stack**: Python, C++, Linux, CUDA, TensorRT, Unreal Engine, Docker, NVIDIA stack — modern, performance-critical engineering environment.

## Sources
1. [spaice.tech](https://spaice.tech/)
2. [LinkedIn - spaicetech](https://uk.linkedin.com/company/spaicetech)
3. [Built In - SPAICE](https://builtin.com/company/spaice)
4. [Built In - Computer Vision Engineer](https://builtin.com/job/computer-vision-engineer/9221229)
5. [Ashby - Senior Research Engineer](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/spaice-tech/b6bd2fb3-e3a2-4a07-89ca-b77d2cc95c2e)

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