Software Engineering Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering

Join Axon and be a Force for Good.

At Axon, we’re on a mission to Protect Life. We’re explorers, pursuing society’s most critical safety and justice issues with our ecosystem of devices and cloud software. Like our products, we work better together. We connect with candor and care, seeking out diverse perspectives from our customers, communities and each other.

Life at Axon is fast-paced, challenging and meaningful. Here, you’ll take ownership and drive real change. Constantly grow as you work hard for a mission that matters at a company where you matter.

Your Impact

Dedrone protects airspace from drone threats. Each deployment combines our software, our own and partner sensors, and a networking stack that connects the site to DedroneC2 in the cloud. As Engineering Manager for Forward Deployed Engineering, you lead the team that owns the technical outcome at our most critical customer sites.

Your team takes each problem from live triage to a fix in the product. You have the authority to raise defects and to join design reviews with our product teams, based on what your team sees first-hand in the field. One question guides the work: how do we leave the product better than we found it, so nobody has to work this issue again?

What You’ll Do

Location: Onsite at our Sterling, Virginia office 4 days a week, and on the road 50% of time
Reports to: Senior Engineering Manager
Direct Reports: 3

• Hire, coach, and develop software engineers and systems specialists across the US and Europe.
• Lead a team that resolves live site problems with customers and installers as they come in, and plan its workload and its place on the engineering on-call rota.
• Run strong operational practices: incident response, root-cause analysis, reviews after incidents, and risk reduction.
• Drive field escalations to resolution with product engineering teams, and make sure each root cause is fixed in the product.
• Own and improve the runbooks, checklists, and acceptance tests that make deployments repeatable.
• Work with sales, services, and support teams on customer deployments.
• Travel to customer sites and events when the work needs it.
• Use AI-assisted engineering tools in your daily work, and help the team adopt them well.
• Measure the technical results of the team and report them to senior leaders.

What You Bring

• 5+ years of software development experience, or an equivalent engineering background
• 2+ years in an engineering leadership role, hiring, managing, and developing engineers
• Technical judgment to review designs and code, and to work hands-on during a live incident
• Production operations experience, such as incident response, root-cause analysis, runbooks, and monitoring
• Linux and networking depth to lead live triage and to judge root-cause analysis
• Hands-on experience with AI-assisted engineering tools and workflows
• Clear communication with customers, installers, and senior leaders during live incidents, and experience of work across teams without direct authority

Benefits that Benefit You

• Competitive salary and 401k with employer match
• Discretionary paid time off
• Paid parental leave for all
• Medical, Dental, Vision plans
• Fitness Programs
• Emotional & Mental Wellness support
• Learning & Development programs
• Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
• And yes, we have snacks in our offices

Benefits listed herein may vary depending on the nature of your employment and the location where you work.

Axon is a total compensation company, meaning compensation is made up of base pay, bonus, and stock awards. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: level, function, training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, geographic market, and often a combination of all these factors. Our benefits offer an array of options to help support you physically, financially and emotionally through the big milestones and in your everyday life. To see more details on our benefits offerings please visit https://www.axon.com/careers.

Base Pay Range$150,000—$240,000 USD

Don’t meet every single requirement? That's ok. At Axon, we Aim Far. We think big with a long-term view because we want to reinvent the world to be a safer, better place. We are also committed to building diverse teams that reflect the communities we serve.

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they check every box in the job description. If you’re excited about this role and our mission to Protect Life but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification listed here, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Important Notes

The above job description is not intended as, nor should it be construed as, exhaustive of all duties, responsibilities, skills, efforts, or working conditions associated with this job. The job description may change or be supplemented at any time in accordance with business needs and conditions.

Some roles may also require legal eligibility to work in a firearms environment.

We collect personal information from applicants to evaluate candidates for employment. You may request access, deletion, or exercise other CCPA rights at [email protected] or via our Axon Privacy Web Form. For more information, please see the Your California Privacy Rights section of our Applicant and Candidate Privacy Notice.

Axon’s mission is to Protect Life and is committed to the well-being and safety of its employees as well as Axon’s impact on the environment. All Axon employees must be aware of and committed to the appropriate environmental, health, and safety regulations, policies, and procedures. Axon employees are empowered to report safety concerns as they arise and activities potentially impacting the environment.

We are an equal opportunity employer that promotes justice, advances equity, values diversity and fosters inclusion. We’re committed to hiring the best talent — regardless of race, creed, color, ancestry, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances — and empowering all of our employees so they can do their best work. If you have a disability or special need that requires assistance or accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please email [email protected]. Please note that this email address is for accommodation purposes only. Axon will not respond to inquiries for other purposes.

Phishing alert: Axon will never ask you to pay for any part of the hiring process, including training, equipment, or background checks. We do not make job offers via text message, WhatsApp, or instant messaging platforms without a formal interview process. All legitimate job openings are listed on our official careers page at https://www.axon.com/careers. If you receive a suspicious offer or outreach from an email address that is not @axon.com, or if you are asked for sensitive personal information (bank details, Social Security Number) prematurely, please ignore the message and report it to [email protected].