Forward Deployed Engineer (Satellite Communications)

Location: Washington, D.C.; on-site 5 days per week. Travel up to 30% and extended hours or weekends may be required.

Salary: $170,000–$225,000 per year, plus equity, performance bonuses, and benefits.

Company

hirify.global is a space infrastructure company building a global network of phased-array ground stations for real-time satellite communications supporting national security, global connectivity, and disaster response.

What you will do

• Serve as the primary technical contact for satellite customers throughout capture, evaluation, onboarding, deployment, and post-deployment.
• Lead technical discovery, exchanges, demonstrations, readiness reviews, and customer mission planning.
• Implement and integrate customer operations on the ground station network, including bringing up systems, troubleshooting, coding, and validation.
• Translate customer requirements, constraints, and success metrics into clear priorities for Engineering, Product, Business Development, and Program Management.
• Coordinate onboarding and deployment readiness, identify risks and adoption blockers, and improve customer success processes.
• Support qualification, proposals, expansion opportunities, and the development of reusable discovery frameworks and customer-facing materials.

Requirements

• 7+ years of experience in customer-facing technical roles such as solutions or systems engineering, mission operations, technical business development, capture engineering, solutions architecture, or technical account management.
• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, aerospace, or a related field, or equivalent experience with mission systems, ground systems, networking, cloud, or satellite operations.
• Experience taking complex customer engagements from discovery through deployment or expansion.
• Ability to build trust with technical customers, clarify ambiguous mission needs, and communicate priorities effectively across technical and business teams.
• Must successfully obtain and maintain a Top Secret Security Clearance.
• Must satisfy U.S. ITAR eligibility requirements, including U.S. citizenship, lawful permanent residency, protected-individual status, or eligibility for the required authorizations.

Nice to have

• Experience in satellite communications, RF, space operations, ground stations, or telecommunications infrastructure.
• Experience with proposals, technical evaluations, demonstrations, pilots, or proof-of-concept engagements.
• Experience managing technical relationships in mission-critical environments.
• Familiarity with APIs, networking protocols, telemetry, scheduling systems, cloud infrastructure, or mission assurance.
• Ability to obtain or hold TS/SCI clearance.

Culture & Benefits

• Work on vertically integrated space communications systems deployed for real-world satellite missions.
• Equity, discretionary performance bonuses, and long-term stock options.
• Medical, vision, and dental coverage, flexible spending accounts, and retirement savings plans.
• Flexible time off and 10 or more paid holidays per year.
• Professional development opportunities and reasonable workplace accommodations.