Forward Deployed Engineering Lead

Open role Forward Deployed Engineering Lead Our mission AI is becoming fundamental to how the world works. When it is, the ability to compute, and to manufacture the hardware that computes, should not be concentrated in a few places. Touchdown's mission is to make compute accessible to the whole world and to reindustrialize advanced semiconductor manufacturing in the United States. We co-design everything for next-generation compute: the AI systems people use, the software that serves them, the architectures and chips underneath, and the packaging, test, and manufacturing that make them real. Co-design brings down the complexity and cost of building compute. That is what makes manufacturing in America competitive again, and what puts compute within reach of people and companies everywhere. We build alongside the world's best manufacturing ecosystems, including Taiwan's, and every role here makes one layer better and carries what it learns to the rest. Why this role matters Customer work is where co-design meets reality. This role builds the team that turns customer problems into delivered systems and into lessons for the rest of the stack. Technical scope Engagement scoping and staffing; engineering quality and acceptance standards; coaching and hiring; delivery playbooks; turning repeated customer needs into platform and research priorities. First 90 days Run customer engagements with your team.Write the engagement playbook.Feed repeated requests into the platform roadmap. What you will own Engagement staffing and delivery quality.Hiring and coaching.Scoping and acceptance standards. What you bring 8+ years shipping production software, including customer-facing engineering.Led engineers through ambiguous customer work. Helpful experience Forward-deployed or professional-services leadership How we work AI-native by default. You use coding agents, AI-assisted analysis, and automation every day, and you check their output against measurements before anyone relies on it.We work alongside foundries, test houses, OSATs, and research labs, and we build with partners rather than against them. How the role works Full-time.Location: Santa Clara, CA.Openings: 2.Pay: $210,000–$270,000 base (Santa Clara, CA).Ranges are base pay for U.S. roles and depend on location, experience, and level. Full-time roles also include equity and benefits. Taiwan pay is set to the local market and discussed in the first call.Start date and employment details are discussed during the process. Apply for this role → Applications are reviewed against the work described here. We do not use a degree, title, or keyword list as a substitute for evidence.