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About the Role

Forward Deployed Engineering exists to close the gap between world-class sensor technology and mission success in the field. As Forward Deployed Engineering Manager, you will build and lead a global team of engineers who embed directly with customers to design, integrate, validate and ship navigation solutions into complex defence and commercial platforms. This is a player-coach leadership role for a deeply technical operator, co-owning the technical dimension of the customer journey and being accountable for commercial outcomes.

Responsibilities

Define and optimize the FDE charter to support the global operating model, ensuring technical resources are prioritized based on commercial impact and XL deal capture.
Recruit, develop and retain engineers who combine deep technical capability with customer-facing excellence.
Establish deployment playbooks: pre-sale technical qualification, on-site integration sprints, acceptance testing and handover to sustainment.
Implement post-sale and support operations: replace pre-sale qualification and integration sprints with a Tier 1–3 technical support hierarchy, SLA management, ticketing, and RMA/hardware repair workflows.
Lead in challenging environments, acting as a point of escalation for internal and customer issues.
Develop the technical capability of the global FDE organization and ensure the team is highly engaged.
Lead globally while acting as the functional counterpart to regional leads, sharing playbooks, tooling and benchmarking practice.
Provide surge support on major pursuits in other regions where specific expertise is decisive.
Lead a cross-region FDE community of practice to ensure consistent worldwide standards.
Manage cross-region surge support as requested, prioritized, resourced and cost-recovered.
Contribute to the technical strategy on strategic pursuits and key accounts.
Drive win rate through superior technical positioning: demonstrations, trials, benchmarking campaigns and integration proofs-of-concept.
Act as the senior technical escalation point for high-stakes customer implementations and queries.
Translate field-derived insight into structured product requirements and hold a formal seat in product roadmap governance.
Champion product-customer fit as a measurable discipline.
Partner with R&D on ruggedisation, interface and firmware priorities driven by real deployment friction.
Partner with regional commercial leadership on account strategy, opportunity qualification and bid/no-bid decisions.
Support pricing and scoping of engineering services attached to INS sales.
Instrument FDE activity so its commercial contribution is visible and forecastable.
Partner with marketing on technical proof: demonstrations, benchmarking content, reference deployments and conference presence.
Assume direct ownership of the customer post-deployment, driving long-term product adoption, user training, and ongoing client sentiment.
Represent the company technically at customer executive briefings, industry conferences and defence expos.
Improve technical win rate to 50% and reduce time-to-integration through standardized delivery playbooks.
Own post-deployment health to drive long-term adoption, targeting improvements in repeat purchase and expansion and churn prevention.
Achieve top-tier metrics for CSAT, First Response Time (FRT), and Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR).

Requirements

8+ years across applications engineering, solutions engineering, presales or field engineering in navigation, robotics, autonomous systems or adjacent deep-tech.
Demonstrated record of winning complex technical pursuits.
Experience in defence strongly preferred, but aerospace or maritime domain experience is possible.
Hands-on fluency with inertial navigation, GNSS/GNSS-denied operation, sensor fusion, and platform integration.
Experience leading and scaling distributed technical teams, or clear readiness to step from senior IC/team-lead into functional leadership.
Willingness to travel globally, including to austere test and trial environments.
Experience within a Five Eyes defence program environment (land, maritime or uncrewed systems) is a plus.
Familiarity with export controls as they affect field engineering work is a plus.
Second language and cross-cultural fluency for global account work is a plus.
Ability to obtain security clearances may be required.
Subject to citizenship or export-control requirements.

Skills

INS
GNSS
Sensor fusion
Robotics
Customer-facing excellence
Technical qualification
On-site integration sprints
Acceptance testing
Handover to sustainment
Technical support
SLA management
Ticketing
RMA/hardware repair workflows
Technical strategy
Technical positioning
Demonstrations
Trials
Benchmarking campaigns
Integration proofs-of-concept
Product requirements
Product roadmap governance
Product-customer fit
Ruggedisation
Interface priorities
Firmware priorities
Account strategy
Opportunity qualification
Bid/no-bid decisions
Pricing and scoping of engineering services
Revenue operations
Marketing content
Reference deployments
Conference presence
Customer post-deployment ownership
User training
Client sentiment
Executive briefings
Industry conferences
Defence expos
GNSS-denied operation
Platform integration (serial/CAN/Ethernet interfaces, timing, mounting and calibration realities)

Location

Sydney, Australia

Work Type

Full-time
Permanent
Onsite

Experience Level

8+ years
Leadership

Education Level

Degree in mechatronics, mechanical, electrical or aerospace engineering (or equivalent depth demonstrated in the field)

About the Company

Advanced Navigation is an equal opportunity employer.

Equal Opportunity

Advanced Navigation is an equal opportunity employer.
Some roles require the ability to obtain security clearances and may be subject to citizenship or export-control requirements.