Hadrian
1 open Forward Deployed Engineer role at Hadrian. Curated with comp bands.
Comp on the board: $120K–$250K.
On the board since Aug 2026 · still hiring
Our take
Why Hadrian
One of the rare FDE seats where 'production' means metal parts coming off an autonomous factory line — and it just raised $1.37B at a $7.87B valuation to scale it.
- FDE type
- True forward-deployed
- Travel
- High
- Comp
- Competitive
- Stage
- Growth-stage
A good fit if you're…
- Engineers drawn to physical manufacturing and aerospace/defense programs over software-only work
- People who want end-to-end ownership from discovery to deployment with no intermediary layer
- Those comfortable with a wide comp band that spans two very different seniority levels
- Candidates who want a well-capitalized defense-manufacturing bet with named primes as customers
Autonomous factories for aerospace and defense
Hadrian builds AI-driven, highly automated factories that make precision components for aerospace and defense — the parts inside rockets, satellites, jets, submarines, and ships. Its software platform, Opus, runs the factory floor. Customers include primes like Lockheed Martin, RTX, and Anduril, and the company operates just under 3 million square feet across four sites, including a 2.2M-sq-ft submarine-component plant in Alabama and a new factory in Mesa, Arizona.
What 'forward deployed' means on a factory floor
This is deployment in the physical world. The FDE embeds on enterprise aerospace/defense programs to configure Opus, write edge software, and run the full arc from discovery to deployment — no account manager or intermediary layer between engineer and customer. Your output isn't a merged PR; it's configuration and edge code that make real parts come off a real line, on schedule and to spec. That's unusually concrete scope for an FDE.
One title, two very different jobs
The board band is $120K–$250K — unusually wide because it really covers two roles under one title. At the bottom it's a junior configurator learning Opus and the manufacturing stack; at the top it's a senior program owner running customer deployments. Where you land depends heavily on manufacturing and edge-software experience, with equity rounding out the package. Read any offer carefully: the title alone won't tell you which job you're being hired for.
Capitalized for scale, not survival
Hadrian is in the well-funded defense-manufacturing wave and then some. In August 2026 it raised a $1.37B Series D at a $7.87B valuation — co-led by WCM, Washington Harbour, Valor Equity, 137 Ventures, and Baillie Gifford, with JPMorgan's Security and Resiliency Initiative as anchor — about a year after a $260M Series C. For an FDE, that capital means more programs, more factory capacity, and a longer runway to turn pilots into production.
The upside and the trade-offs
The draw is rare: physical-deployment engineering with national-security stakes and tangible output. The trade-offs are just as real — travel between LA/Torrance, the Bay Area, and customer sites; factory-floor timelines that don't bend to software sprints; and defense work that typically carries ITAR/US-person requirements. If shipping atoms excites you more than shipping pixels, the trade is usually worth it.
Who thrives here
Thrives: engineers who like hardware, hands-on problem-solving, and owning outcomes on-site; people comfortable in defense-program culture and pace. Bounces: anyone wanting remote, pure-software IC work or a predictable 9-to-5 cadence. The job rewards people who want to stand on a factory floor and make a line run — not just those who want to write code about one from a desk.
Questions candidates ask
Is this really a software FDE role or a manufacturing job?
Both, deliberately. You write edge software and configure Opus, but the deliverable is physical parts coming off a line. It's forward-deployed engineering where the customer environment is a factory, not a SaaS tenant.
Why is the comp band so wide ($120K–$250K)?
Because one title covers two jobs — a junior configurator at the low end, a senior program owner at the top. Your manufacturing and edge-software experience decides where in the band you land.
Do I need a security clearance?
Not necessarily to start, but Hadrian serves defense primes like Lockheed, RTX, and Anduril, so aerospace/defense manufacturing typically carries ITAR/US-person requirements and some programs may need an obtainable clearance. It tends to widen the work available to you.
How stable is the company?
Very well-capitalized. It raised $1.37B in August 2026 at a $7.87B valuation on top of a $260M Series C the year before, and runs ~3M sq ft of factories — this is a funded scale-up, not a seed-stage bet.
Analysis updated 2026-10-19
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