# Director of Engineering, Forward Deployed Engineering at Hadrian

Hadrian is hiring a Director of Engineering, Forward Deployed Engineering in Los Angeles, United States. It pays $300k-$415k a year and Level rates it Works on AI ●●●○; you can [apply on Hadrian](https://jobsbylevel.com/go/2c97772c-176e-45d3-aab6-2fad43a34bdd?utm_medium=ai-agent).

AI Level 3, AI centrality 65 out of 100. Los Angeles, CA.

## Details

- Company: [Hadrian](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/hadrian)
- AI level: AI Level 3 (score 65 out of 100)
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
- Salary: $300k-$415k
- Posted: October 9, 2026
- Apply: https://jobsbylevel.com/go/2c97772c-176e-45d3-aab6-2fad43a34bdd?utm_medium=ai-agent
- Free CV review for this job: https://jobsbylevel.com/cv-review?job=director-of-engineering-forward-deployed-engineering-at-hadrian-1ef476

## Prepare for this job

The job page lists 5 likely interview questions for this offer, with a CV checklist: https://jobsbylevel.com/jobs/director-of-engineering-forward-deployed-engineering-at-hadrian-1ef476

## 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. Forward Deployed at Hadrian We embed Forward Deployed teams on Hadrian’s largest and most critical programs with the U.S. Government, the Armed Forces, and major defense primes. The Forward Deployed team works alongside program and engineering teams, from scoping to execution. Forward Deployed adapts our product to fulfill customer needs. Sometimes that involves extending Opus, Hadrian’s AI-driven manufacturing autonomy platform; other times, it involves taking a new product from 0 to 1 to make a program successful. Everything the Forward Deployed team learns working on the front lines with our customers is fed back to our engineering teams to improve Hadrian’s product for all customers. Recent projects have included establishing Factories-as-a-Service (FaaS) for the Armed Forces and several major primes, expanding Opus into new manufacturing sectors such as energetics, and growing a product line originally developed for a single program into a programs valued at over $1b. The Role As Director, you lead the Forward Deployed team across one or more programs and are responsible for their technical outcomes. You will oversee the technical aspects of a program larger than most startups ever experience, working directly with government representatives, customers, and Hadrian’s leadership teams. The team is in its early stages, and the scope is rapidly expanding with Hadrian. Directors will play a key role in scaling the Forward Deployed team and leading multi-billion-dollar programs. Own the technical roadmap and delivery. Take the program from the first ambiguous conversation to running in production; decide what Opus covers, what gets built, and what we say no to; and hold the team to a very high execution bar. The program hits rate, quality, schedule, and cost, in part because the software and systems behind it work; you own that part. Bring program learnings to platform teams. Share program learnings at Hadrian to improve the product for all customers and decide which Forward Deployed products should become part of Opus. Own the executive relationship on the technical side. Be the primary technical contact for customer program leadership, government stakeholders, and prime partners. Run technical reviews, have the hard conversations about scope and schedule yourself, and make the call when scope, schedule, and platform leverage pull against each other and the commercial stakes are real. Build and lead the team. Hire and grow the engineers, product managers, and designers on your program. You set the standard for how they work, and they bring you their hardest scoping calls. Stay hands-on. Early in a program, that can mean building the v0 yourself. Later, it means reviewing what your team ships closely enough to ensure it meets Hadrian’s quality bar. What We're Looking For Highly commercial technical leaders

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