---
title: 'Lead, Forward Deployed Engineer at Aurelius Systems'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/lead-forward-deployed-engineer-aurelius-systems-san-francisco-ge2mknde6mwp'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-03'
---

# Lead, Forward Deployed Engineer at Aurelius Systems

- **Company:** Aurelius Systems
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $160k–$210k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-08-24
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-03
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/aureliussystems/f251cfad-2db8-4baa-9845-6780b1bbfd51

## Job description

Who We Are:

Aurelius Systems is a VC backed defense tech startup building autonomous, edge deployed directed energy systems for counter-UAS. We build laser weapons to shoot down drones.

We're a small team of engineers, former US military operators, and subject matter experts scaling America's directed energy dominance. The first cost effective, reliable and robust laser weapon system.

Our namesake isn't an accident. Marcus Aurelius wrote about doing the work in front of you, every day, without excuses. Henry Ford didn't wait for permission to reinvent manufacturing. That's how we operate — small team, unreasonable output, no hiding behind the unachievable.

In addition to our San Francisco lab, we’ve opened a Detroit manufacturing hub and we field test weekly on our own 400-acre private range.

The Role and Your Impact:

We need a Forward Deployed Engineer to lead demonstrations, field tests, and field integration on Archimedes. You're a generalist engineer who can work across mechanical, electrical, and software when the system is in front of a customer or downrange. You'll set it up, you'll fix it when it breaks, and you'll be the credible technical face of Aurelius when an operator is standing next to you. Between deployments you're back at the lab testing, breaking things on purpose, and bringing what you learned in the field back into the build.

What You'll Own:

- System setup, integration, and operation at demonstrations, field tests, and customer sites
- Field troubleshooting and repair across mechanical, electrical, and software subsystems
- Pre-deployment system checkout and packing, post-deployment teardown and debrief
- Real-time integration work on novel hardware and software in non-lab conditions
- Customer-facing technical interaction during demos, tests, and pilots
- Capturing field observations, failure modes, and operator feedback and feeding them back to engineering
- In-lab testing, characterization, and rig work between deployments

What We're Looking For:

- 3 to 8+ years of hands-on engineering or technician experience on real hardware, ideally on systems that left the lab
- Generalist depth across at least two of: mechanical, electrical, embedded software, integration
- Hands-on troubleshooting skills with scope, multimeter, basic shop tools, and command line
- Comfortable presenting and operating in front of customers, including military operators
- Travel-ready and physically able to support field deployments including range conditions and equipment handling

Where you probably come from: Field service or test engineering at defense or aerospace companies, integration roles at hardware startups, military maintenance or test trades, motorsports or robotics field teams, or any program where you owned a system at the test site.

We want to talk if: You've stood next to a piece of hardware in front of a customer when something failed and brought it back online. You're comfortable being the only engineer on site. You don't lose your composure when the system does.

Not a fit if: Your experience is lab-only with no field exposure, you've never owned a customer-facing demo, or you need a full team to debug a problem.

Nice to Haves:

- Military service or close exposure to military operating environments
- Counter-UAS, directed energy, or air defense experience
- ROS2 or robotics field integration experience
- Active TS/SCI clearance or eligibility
- Welding, machining, or fabrication shop skills

Education:

AA, BS, MS, or PhD. No specific degree required. Trade school, military training, or engineering degree all welcome. What you've fielded matters more than where you went to school.

How You Operate:

- Extreme bias for action.
- Calm under pressure. The customer doesn't see the panic; they see the fix
- You characterize your own systems before the field does
- Comfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration in a startup environment
- Clear communicator across operators, engineers, and customers
- Self directed. You identify what needs to happen next and do it without being told

Why Join Aurelius Systems?

- Build more in 1 month than most engineers build in 1 year. We field test weekly. Your work goes downrange, not into a filing cabinet.
- Career velocity is real. At ~10 engineers, there are no layers between you and impact.
- Work on a problem that actually matters. Small cheap drones are changing warfare. Our laser systems are the asymmetric answer — infinite magazine, near zero cost per shot, scalable to every base, border, facility, and truck.
- Join the densest defense startup ecosystem in the country. California is where the next generation of defense companies are being built.

How We Work:

Core hours are Monday through Friday, 9 to 6. When we're sprinting toward a demo or field test, the team ramps up — nights, weekends, whatever it takes to ship. When the sprint lands, we ramp down. We don't manufacture intensity for show.

Benefits:

- Competitive salary + equity
- United Health Care medical, dental, and vision coverage
- Flexible 18 days PTO + 5 sick days
- Travel to field test events and range days
- Covered daily lunches and office snacks + drinks
- E-bike / scooter stipend ( Up to $500)
- Direct access to leadership and real ownership over your work

Export Control Notice:

This role requires access to export-controlled information or items that require "U.S. Person" status. As defined by U.S. law, individuals who are any one of the following are considered to be a "U.S. Person": (1) U.S. citizens, (2) legal permanent residents (a.k.a. green card holders), and (3) certain protected classes of asylees and refugees, as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).

## About Aurelius Systems

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Aurelius Systems builds autonomous, directed-energy laser systems to neutralize drone threats for military and defense applications.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, CA, USA
- **Founded**: Not publicly available (likely 2024 or early 2025 based on funding timeline)
- **Founders**: Michael LaFramboise (CEO, Co-Founder), John Marmaduke (CTO, Co-Founder)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Defense and Space Manufacturing (Directed Energy / Counter-UAS)
- **Target customers**: Military and defense organizations (DoD, allied nations) needing scalable, cost-effective defense against unmanned aircraft systems (UAS/drones).
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "Build the future of defense with autonomous directed energy built to stop drone threats at the speed of light, for the cost of electricity, anywhere they appear."

## Products & Services
- **[Archimedes]**: An autonomous counter-UAS laser defense system. Combines high-power directed energy lasers, advanced optical sensors, and AI-driven autonomy to detect, track, and neutralize aerial threats in seconds. Designed for field-portability, rapid deployment, and operation in a networked "defense grid" formation.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: $10.0M in total funding (Seed round, closed October 2025)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: General Catalyst (lead), Draper Associates (lead), and 9 other unnamed investors. The company has also been selected by the U.S. Army for testing (T-REX 26-2 exercise).
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew +187.5% year-over-year (to ~16 employees). 17 active job postings (monthly postings up +13.3%, quarterly +240%). Demonstrated live field performance at a major U.S. Army exercise in June 2026.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Cost-per-kill advantage**: Directed energy lasers fire for the cost of electricity (dollars per shot) vs. traditional missile-based counter-UAS systems that cost "hundreds of thousands per kill."
- **Full autonomy**: The system uses machine learning and optical sensing to detect and engage threats without requiring a human operator to watch a screen — a stated differentiator from other solutions on the market.
- **Speed of light engagement**: Neutralizes threats in seconds, not minutes.
- **COTS-based hardware**: Built on commercial off-the-shelf components for lower cost, faster production, and easier maintenance.
- **Field-proven**: Successfully demonstrated in adverse weather during the T-REX 26-2 exercise.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling the company and its manufacturing capacity to meet growing demand from the U.S. military and allied nations.
- Deploying a networked defense grid of multiple Archimedes units for persistent, scalable protection of forces, facilities, and critical infrastructure.
- Continuing rapid R&D iterations driven by real-world field testing.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven work**: Directly contribute to protecting warfighters and critical assets — "build something that matters."
- **Fast-paced, small team culture**: Described as a small team that moves fast, tests in the field, and owns the full lifecycle from R&D to deployment.
- **Early-stage impact**: With only ~16 employees, new hires will have outsized influence and responsibility on the core product.
- **Location**: Based in San Francisco, CA — one of the few defense companies in a city built for tech talent.
- **Benefits**: Full medical, dental, and vision (United Healthcare), 18 days PTO + flexible sick days + 2-week winter break, daily catered lunch + stocked snacks, commuter stipend (up to $500 toward e-bike/scooter), on-site gym, and professional development reimbursement.
- **Work model**: In-office presence (San Francisco HQ). No hybrid/remote-first policy stated.
- **Engineering culture**: Emphasis on building hard things quickly, robotics, photonics, mechanical engineering, and AI/ML autonomy.

## Sources
1. [aureliussystems.com](https://www.aureliussystems.com/)
2. [aureliussystems.com/careers](https://www.aureliussystems.com/careers)
3. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/aureliussystems](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/aureliussystems)
4. [linkedin.com/company/aurelius-systems](https://www.linkedin.com/company/aurelius-systems)
5. [aureliussystems.com/leadership](https://www.aureliussystems.com/leadership)

## Other roles at Aurelius Systems

- [Technical Recruiter](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-recruiter-aurelius-systems-san-francisco-5gby28xsfxn6) — San Francisco, CA
- [Electrical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-engineer-aurelius-systems-san-francisco-rvn5yvayjsd5) — San Francisco, CA
- [Perception Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/perception-engineer-aurelius-systems-san-francisco-xfb0j0b71s8c) — San Francisco, CA
- [Principal, Hardware Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-hardware-engineer-aurelius-systems-san-francisco-7ngv4y53at3v) — San Francisco, CA
- [Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-aurelius-systems-san-francisco-b663msw1yfxm) — San Francisco, CA
- [Digital Marketing Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/digital-marketing-specialist-aurelius-systems-san-francisco-46kaa74pdp48) — San Francisco, CA
- [Operations Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/operations-specialist-aurelius-systems-san-francisco-zraphew450xc) — San Francisco, CA
- [Executive Assistant](https://feeny.ai/job/executive-assistant-aurelius-systems-san-francisco-z17cgny0aba5) — San Francisco, CA
- [Sr. Optical Engineer, R&D](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-optical-engineer-r-d-aurelius-systems-san-francisco-0kacrfmehv7b) — San Francisco, CA
- [Sr. Robotics Software Engineer, Controls](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-robotics-software-engineer-controls-aurelius-systems-san-francisco-yfydw5rp3nj6) — San Francisco, CA