Senior Engagement Engineer

Sitreps•Los Angeles, CA

8d•$180,000 - $220,000•Hybrid

About The Position

This role sits between the platform and the customer, requiring the ability to be credible in technical reviews defending the physics and modeling, and also to explain these concepts to program managers who control the budget. The primary focus is not on shipping production software, but on being hands-on with the models through scripting, analysis, benchmarking, and validation. The individual will be responsible for diagnosing issues and defending the platform's integrity. The role reports directly to the founder and CEO, with a future transition to the CTO as the U.S. entity's security and compliance infrastructure matures. The scope is expected to expand significantly within the first six months as the U.S. leadership team is built out.

Requirements

U.S. citizenship.
Active U.S. security clearance at the Secret level or above.
Military or defense background (any branch, any service component).
Bachelor's degree in engineering (any discipline) or a hard science such as physics.
Hands-on depth in applied machine learning, numerical optimization, or physics-based modeling and simulation.
A track record of client-facing technical work (solutions, applications, forward-deployed or field engineering, mission management, or technical program management).
Based in or near Los Angeles or Washington, D.C.

Nice To Haves

Active Top Secret clearance.
Experience at a successful aerospace, space, or deep-tech startup, particularly as one of the first 50 people.
Working familiarity with spacecraft subsystems: propulsion, power, structures, or RF.
Master's or doctorate in engineering, physics, or a related field.

Responsibilities

Customer delivery, including technical ownership of named accounts from evaluation through deployment.
Scoping problems with customer engineering teams, running evaluations, demonstrating the platform, and diagnosing design issues.
Hands-on work with models, including scripting, analysis, benchmarking, and validation, to diagnose issues independently.
Translating customer needs into actionable requirements for the engineering team and managing the requirements loop.
Representing the company in restricted access, closed-door sessions and program reviews requiring U.S. persons.
Contributing to pre-sales efforts through proposals, technical responses, and benchmark studies.
Setting the pattern for the U.S. technical team as the first hire and taking on expanded responsibilities as the company grows.