Forward Deployed Engineer (Aviation)

Solutions Architect / Technical Deployment Lead / Customer-Facing Software Engineer At Soji, we are building the brain behind modern aviation. We are revolutionising an industry that still runs on 40-year-old processes. Our AI-powered ecosystem is designed to reduce aircraft downtime, improve safety, and make operations more efficient. Headquartered in Germany and Singapore, we are international by default and thrive on that. Come join a funded, revenue-generating startup with customers in Europe and Asia! About the Role We are seeking a senior Forward Deployed Engineer to embed deeply within our strategic aviation customers and ensure Soji AI delivers measurable operational impact. This is not a short-term implementation or support role. You will work side-by-side with airlines, MROs, lessors, and aviation operators — often on-site and sometimes for extended periods, becoming a trusted partner within their teams. You will lead the full lifecycle of customer engagement: from early sales talks and training to long-term adoption, optimization, and expansion. You will act as the strategic bridge between customer operations and our internal product and engineering teams. Your responsibility is not only to ensure technical success, but to translate operational insights into scalable product improvements that can benefit all customers. This hybrid role combines engineering depth, operational understanding, product thinking, and business awareness. You must be technically strong, commercially aware, and comfortable operating in complex real-world environments. Based in Germany (preferred), with frequent travel across Europe and occasional trips to Asia. Deep Customer Embedding & Ownership: Work on-site with strategic aviation customers as an integrated member of their operational teams, often for extended periods (1–2+ years). Lead structured onboarding and long-term adoption of Soji AI, ensuring our platform becomes embedded in daily workflows across maintenance, engineering, operations control, and asset management. Take full ownership of value realization and measurable operational outcomes while building trusted relationships from hangar-floor technicians to executive leadership. Training, Enablement & Continuous Improvement: Design and deliver hands-on training sessions for operational personnel and IT teams, enabling confident adoption of AI-driven workflows. Establish internal champions within customer organizations and continuously monitor usage to identify friction points. Gather structured feedback and convert operational insights into clear, actionable improvement items for our internal product and engineering teams. Product Translation & Scalable Impact: Act as the strategic bridge between customer operations and Soji’s product organization. Gather detailed requirements and pain points, identify recurring patterns across customers, and translate field insights into scalable product enhancements. Distill customer-specific requests into capabilities that strengthen our core platform and can be resold across the aviation industry. Think proactively and anticipate future needs before they become blockers. Expansion & Commercial Enablement: Identify additional use cases and growth opportunities within existing accounts by understanding operational challenges in depth. Support upsell initiatives and new module rollouts by combining technical expertise with business awareness. Collaborate closely with Sales and Business Development to scope pilots, evaluate feasibility, and drive sustainable account expansion. Technical Integration & Debugging Support: Develop a deep understanding of Soji AI’s architecture, integrations, and data flows to support complex customer environments. Diagnose integration challenges, assist in root cause analysis, and collaborate with internal engineers to resolve technical issues efficiently. While not operating as a ticket-based bug fixer, maintain the technical depth required to reason about code, systems architecture, APIs, and data pipelines. Function Building & Leadership Growth: Contribute to defining and scaling Soji’s forward-deployed engineering function by establishing best practices for long-term customer embedding. Mentor future hires and help formalize processes that bridge Product, Engineering, and Customer Success. Grow into broader leadership responsibilities over time, with potential paths into Product, Engineering, or Customer Success leadership. Software Engineering Expertise: Bring 8+ years of experience in software engineering, systems integration, or a related technical field, with a proven track record of deploying solutions in real-world or enterprise environments. You are comfortable designing, reading, and debugging code, and you can reason deeply about system architecture, APIs, data flows, and infrastructure. You are technically strong enough to understand complex integrations and support root cause analysis when needed. Systems Integration & Deployment Experience: Demonstrate hands-on experience integrating SaaS platforms or enterprise systems into customer IT ecosystems. You are comfortable working across cloud and on-prem environments, connecting APIs, managing data pipelines, and navigating security and compliance constraints. You can diagnose integration challenges independently and collaborate effectively with both customer IT teams and internal engineers. Product & Business Acumen: Show strong ability to translate operational requirements into structured, scalable product inputs. You recognize patterns across different customers and think beyond one-off fixes, focusing on solutions that strengthen the core platform. You understand how operational impact connects to commercial growth and are comfortable identifying expansion opportunities within accounts. Aviation Domain Understanding: Possess experience or strong familiarity with the aviation industry, particularly airlines, MROs, CAMOs, lessors, or asset managers. You understand aircraft maintenance workflows, operational processes, and regulatory environments, and can communicate effectively with aviation engineers and operational teams. Prior hands-on exposure to aviation operations is highly advantageous. Customer Ownership & Communication Skills: Exhibit strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build trust across technical and non-technical stakeholders. You are comfortable working embedded on-site for extended periods and thrive in customer-facing environments. You take full ownership of outcomes, operate autonomously, and remain proactive in complex, fast-moving situations. Leadership Potential & Growth Mindset: Demonstrate initiative, strategic thinking, and the ambition to grow into broader leadership responsibilities over time. You are comfortable mentoring others, shaping processes, and contributing to the development of a new function within a scaling company. You thrive in startup environments where structure is evolving and high agency is required. Language & Travel Readiness: Fluency in English is required; German is a strong plus. You are willing and able to travel frequently within Europe and occasionally to Asia, and to spend significant time embedded on customer sites when needed. Virtual Share Program: Access to our employee virtual share plan, providing ownership in our long-term success. Remote Work Flexibility: Work from anywhere with flexible hours to accommodate collaboration across time zones. Annual Global Offsite: Join the entire team for a yearly international offsite to align, learn, and build together. Collaborative Startup Culture: Work alongside a highly motivated, smart, and diverse team passionate about transforming the aviation industry. High Autonomy & Impact: Operate in an entrepreneurial environment where your leadership directly influences company growth and direction. Diversity & Inclusion Commitment: We are an equal opportunity employer that values diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all team members. We are very happy about your interest and your CV - feel free to contact us if you have any questions!