Advanced Navigation is the world's most determined innovator in AI robotics and navigation technologies across land, air, sea and space applications.Founded on a culture of research and discovery, Advanced Navigation's mission is to be the catalyst of the autonomy revolution.
Fields of expertise include artificial intelligence, underwater sonar, GNSS, radio frequency systems, inertial sensors, robotics, quantum sensors and photonics.Today, Advanced Navigation is a supplier to some of the world's largest companies, including Airbus, Boeing, Google, Tesla, NASA, Apple, and General Motors.
Discover it for yourself:F7uAqs1gtukAbout the roleForward 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 — on vehicles, on vessels, on ranges and in integration labs — 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.
You will co-own the technical dimension of the customer journey from qualification through to fielded capability, and you will be accountable for the commercial outcomes that flow from it: win rate, time-to-integration and product-customer fit.The role is a core pillar of the Growth organisation, reporting directly to the Chief Growth Officer.
You will lead the organisational machinery — processes, tools, and playbooks — that enable our regional GTM teams to succeed.
You will work in close partnership with regional leaders (Americas, EMEA, APAC) to ensure FDE activity is forecastable and directed at the priorities which drive growth for their business.Strategic Leadership & GTM Alignment:Define and optimise the FDE charter to support the global operating model, ensuring technical resources are prioritised based on commercial impact and XL deal capture.Recruit, develop and retain engineers who combine deep technical capability (INS, GNSS, sensor fusion, robotics) with customer-facing excellenceEstablish deployment playbooks: pre-sale technical qualification, on-site integration sprints, acceptance testing and handover to sustainmentPost-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 workflowsLead in challenging environments: act as a point of escalation for internal queries as well as customer issues.
Responsibly hire new technical talent,



developing the technical capability of the global FDE organisation, working to ensure the FDE team is highly engagedSupport and align across regions:Lead globally while acting as the functional counterpart to the Americas and EMEA Applications/FDE leads, sharing playbooks, tooling and benchmarking practiceProvide surge support on major pursuits in other regions where APAC expertise (or product-line depth) is decisiveLead a cross-region FDE community of practice so customers experience one consistent standard worldwideWhere feasible, operate effectively in a matrix: the regions own their own P&L; and their own teams, so influence is earned through demonstrably useful standards, tooling and support rather than exercised through reporting linesWhere aligned with key growth priorities, manage cross-region surge support as requested, prioritised, resourced and cost-recoveredOwn technical wins:Contribute to the technical strategy on strategic pursuits and key accountsDrive win rate through superior technical positioning: demonstrations, trials, benchmarking campaigns and integration proofs-of-conceptAct as the senior technical escalation point for the highest-stakes customer implementations and queriesClose the product feedback loop:Translate field-derived insight into structured product requirements; hold a formal seat in product roadmap governanceChampion product-customer fit as a measurable discipline, not a slogan — instrument it, report on it, improve itPartner with R&D; on ruggedisation, interface and firmware priorities driven by real deployment frictionCommercial and growth partnership:Partner with regional commercial leadership on account strategy, prospect qualification and bid/no-bid decisions up to a non-bespoke thresholdSupport pricing and scoping of engineering services attached to INS salesWork with revenue operations to instrument FDE activity — pursuit involvement, technical win/loss, time-to-integration — so its commercial contribution is visible and forecastablePartner with marketing on technical proof: demonstrations, benchmarking content, reference deployments and conference presenceLifecycle ownership: assume direct ownership of the customer post-deployment, driving long-term product adoption, user training,



and ongoing client sentimentRepresent the company technically at customer executive briefings, industry conferences and defence exposNote: This is a full-time, permanent role based in Sydney, Australia.
Regional and international travel of approximately *****% is expected, including to austere test and trial environments.KEY MEASURABLESShort term:Commercial Execution: Improve technical win rate to 50% and reduce time-to-integration through standardised delivery playbooks.Long term:Customer Success & Retention: Own post-deployment health to drive long-term adoption, targeting improvements in repeat purchase and expansion and churn prevention.Support Performance: Achieve top-tier metrics for CSAT, First Response Time (FRT), and Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR).
QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE & SKILLSQualifications:Degree in mechatronics, mechanical, electrical or aerospace engineering (or equivalent depth demonstrated in the field)Experience:8+ years across applications engineering, solutions engineering, presales or field engineering in navigation, robotics, autonomous systems or adjacent deep-techDemonstrated record of winning complex technical pursuits, experience in defence very strongly preferred, but aerospace or maritime domain experience is possibleHands-on fluency with inertial navigation, GNSS/GNSS-denied operation, sensor fusion, and platform integration (serial/CAN/Ethernet interfaces, timing, mounting and calibration realities)Experience leading and scaling distributed technical teams, or clear readiness to step from senior IC/team-lead into functional leadershipWillingness to travel globally, including to austere test and trial environmentsNice to have:Experience within a Five Eyes defence program environment (land, maritime or uncrewed systems)Familiarity with export controls as they affect field engineering workSecond language and cross-cultural fluency for global account workAdvanced Navigation is an equal opportunity employer.
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📌 Forward-Deployed Engineering Leader (Sydney)
🏢 Advanced Navigation
📍 Sydney