Forward Deployed Engineering Manager

Forward Deployed Engineering Manager

Tocaro Blue is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineering Manager to lead a small, highly capable team responsible for connecting our ProteusCore™ and ApolloCore™ platforms with real-world mission success. This role combines technical leadership, people management, customer engagement, and hands-on problem solving in demanding operational environments.

You will manage a team of up to four FDE’s while remaining actively involved in customer deployments, system integrations, troubleshooting, and field operations. You will serve as a key technical and operational interface between Tocaro Blue, our customers, and our internal engineering teams, primarily supporting Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) builders and other maritime sensing programs.

This is a hands-on leadership role requiring approximately 50% travel to customer sites, test locations, and operational environments.

Tocaro Blue is transforming maritime technology by modernizing legacy marine sensors through innovative software solutions. Our flagship product, ProteusCore™, is an advanced software platform that integrates marine radar data with artificial intelligence and machine learning models to deliver real-time situational awareness and support vessel autonomy systems. Our second and newest product, ApolloCore™, is a complementary machine learning solution that enhances marine EO/IR cameras with stabilization, object detection, and tracking to extend real-time perception and situational awareness across electro-optical sensors.

Responsibilities

• Lead, manage, and develop a team of up to four Forward Deployed Engineers, providing coaching, technical guidance, prioritization, performance feedback, and professional development.
• Serve as a primary technical and operational point of contact for customers during integrations, demonstrations, testing, sea trials, and deployments.
• Lead deployment planning and execution, balancing customer priorities, engineering resources, schedules, technical risks, and mission requirements.
• Serve as a senior escalation point for complex field issues, bringing a structured and practical approach to diagnosing and solving problems under time and operational constraints.
• Remain technically hands-on as needed, supporting the mechanical, electrical, networking, and software integration of ProteusCore™, ApolloCore™, and marine sensor payloads onto customer vessels, USVs, and other maritime platforms.
• Lead the deployment and testing of ProteusCore™ and ApolloCore™ in the field, identifying and resolving issues involving networking, perception, sensor fusion, hardware, software, and overall system performance.
• Plan and lead dockside testing and sea trials, ensuring teams, vessels, hardware, software, test plans, and customer stakeholders are prepared for successful execution.
• Analyze performance data and lessons learned from real-world missions and deployments and translate those findings into actionable recommendations for engineering and product teams.
• Partner closely with ML engineering, software engineering, product, and company leadership to resolve customer challenges and improve the reliability, usability, and scalability of Tocaro Blue systems.
• Identify recurring field issues and drive root-cause resolution rather than relying on short-term fixes.
• Help determine team staffing, scheduling, travel, and resource allocation across simultaneous customer programs and deployments.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as ocean engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, naval architecture, or a related technical discipline.
• 7+ Years of experience in leading, managing, mentoring, or developing technical personnel, with the ability to effectively manage a team of up to four engineers.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with demonstrated ability to establish credibility and build productive relationships with customers, engineers, operators, and business stakeholders.
• Experience with Information Technology and configuring local networks, including tools such as NMCLI.
• Experience working with Linux-based operating systems.
• Ability to diagnose and debug complex systems spanning networking, hardware, software, perception, sensors, and autonomy behaviors.
• Willingness and ability to work in dynamic, hands-on environments, including on and near the water.
• Willingness to travel approximately 50%, including travel to customer facilities, test sites, and maritime operating locations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Previous experience managing or leading a field engineering, deployment, integration, applications engineering, or customer-facing technical team.
• Experience managing multiple customer deployments or technical programs simultaneously.
• Demonstrated success resolving difficult customer issues while maintaining strong customer relationships.
• Software engineering capability, with experience in Python, C++, Rust, or similar languages for hardware bring-up, test automation, integration, or system debugging.
• Experience with autonomous systems, USVs, boats, or ships.
• Experience integrating sensors such as radar, EO/IR cameras, GPS, and IMUs, particularly in perception-driven autonomy applications.
• Familiarity with ruggedized or IP-rated hardware and electronics.
• Experience working with U.S. Government, defense, maritime, or other mission-oriented customers is a plus.

Compensation & Commitment

• Competitive salary, with potential for incentive equity compensation.
• 401(k) with matching up to 4% of salary.
• Health, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance.
• Approximately 50% travel, with the role based out of our engineering office in Birmingham, Alabama.
• In-house training on Tocaro Blue products, tools, and techniques.
• Ability to work on U.S. Government contracts, subject to applicable eligibility requirements.

Equal Opportunity & Eligibility

Tocaro Blue, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer, and we value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

Individual offers are made based on skill and experience, geographic location, as well as role, responsibility, and leadership within the company, and other due diligence. Our hiring team will determine whether each candidate fits the job description and may choose, at its discretion, to redirect a candidate to another job opportunity that is more appropriate.

NOTICE: All candidates for this role must be eligible to access sensitive information and items that require “U.S. Person” status, which is typically limited to U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (green card holders), with limited exceptions. Tocaro Blue, Inc. is not able to sponsor work visas for this role.