Solutions Engineer

ABOUT CODE METAL

Code Metal is redefining code translation for mission-critical industries, helping defense partners move more quickly and reliably from algorithm to silicon. Our platform accelerates deployment of DSP, RF, communications, and embedded signal processing algorithms onto heterogeneous compute targets, including GPUs, FPGAs, ASICs, and edge SoCs. We also support automotive, aerospace, and semiconductor partners deploying complex algorithms onto constrained hardware with speed and rigor.

Solutions Engineer

Code Metal is looking for a Solutions Engineer to sit at the intersection of engineering, prototyping, and customer growth - turning promising opportunities into working technical systems. You'll be a hands-on bridge between our platform and real-world use, building and validating customer solutions through proofs of concept and early development, then helping transition successful work toward repeatable production use.

Who thrives in this role:

• Engineers who enjoy turning loosely defined customer problems into working systems.
• Technically curious people who can quickly explore unfamiliar domains, prototype approaches, and turn what they learn into working solutions.
• Hands-on builders who combine strong technical judgment with rapid execution and follow-through.
• Comfortable owning the technical execution of a customer problem - from a scoped opportunity through a validated proof of concept and early deployment.
• Thrive in open-ended environments and can context-switch quickly across technical domains.
• Willing to learn quickly and go deep when a customer problem demands it.
• A strong technical background is required, whether your experience comes from engineering, research, or other technical roles. You'll often be among the first engineers to prove how Code Metal's technology can solve a new customer problem in practice.

Responsibilities:

• Turn scoped customer opportunities into working technical solutions that demonstrate how Code Metal's technology can be applied in real-world systems.
• Work with customer engineers and stakeholders to understand development needs, system constraints, and success criteria, then translate them into executable implementation plans.
• Rapidly investigate unfamiliar technical domains and de-risk solution paths through hands-on prototyping, integration, and feasibility testing.
• Build and lead proofs of concept (PoCs), working with Solutions Architects, product, engineering, and customer teams to turn an agreed approach into a validated system.
• Implement complex algorithms and compute-heavy pipelines (DSP, RF, communications, and similar workloads) on GPUs, FPGAs, and edge systems using Code Metal's platform.
• Profile, debug, and tune PoCs and early deployments for latency, throughput, memory, and power across heterogeneous compute environments.
• Debug across heterogeneous systems (CPU/GPU/FPGA), identifying and resolving issues spanning algorithms, software, hardware, and toolchains.
• Use PoCs and technical demos to make Code Metal's product differentiators concrete and measurable for customers.
• Capture reusable code, integration patterns, and playbooks from successful PoCs so future customer work can move faster.
• Support early integration and validation as needed, partnering with Forward Deployed Engineers when work transitions into sustained deployment or production.
• Work across Solutions Architecture, Forward Deployed Engineering, product, core engineering, research, and growth, feeding technical learnings back into the platform and customer strategy.

Requirements:

• Strong background in computer science, systems engineering, electrical engineering, physics, or a related technical field.
• Ability to quickly learn unfamiliar domains and turn new technical information into practical experiments and implementations.
• Strong analytical thinking, problem decomposition, and hands-on prototyping skills.
• Demonstrated ability to debug complex systems across software and hardware boundaries.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain implementation tradeoffs and technical results clearly to customers and internal teams.
• Self-starter who can operate independently and effectively in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.
• Willingness to travel occasionally to customer sites as needed (est. 10%-20% travel)

Great to Have:

• Experience designing or architecting complex technical systems.
• Broad cross-domain software experience in one or more of: C/C++, Rust, Python, Verilog/VHDL, MATLAB, CUDA/OpenCL.
• Hands-on experience with GPU programming, FPGA development, embedded or edge systems, especially where software, hardware, and physical systems intersect.
• Experience with compute-intensive workloads such as DSP, RF, communications, or computer vision.
• Experience working with U.S. Government programs or dual-use technologies.
• Active U.S. security clearance (Secret or Top Secret), or eligibility to obtain one.

LEVEL EXPECTATIONS BY TRACK

This role is open at Senior, Staff, or Principal level. The expectations below describe how scope, ownership, and technical leadership differ by level; candidates are evaluated against the level they are hired into.

Senior:

• Years of Experience: 5+
• Engineering Craft & Code Quality: Writes clean, idiomatic, well-tested code/output and follows best practices; drives debugging of the team's hardest issues; ensures AI-assisted work is correct, modular, and fully tested.
• Architecture & Technical Knowledge: Designs and implements changes to single systems, collaborates on larger designs, and drives architecture reviews for multi-developer projects.
• Delivery, Scoping & De-risking: Works with Product to scope and de-risk work; provides reliable estimates for medium-sized projects with clear risk communication.
• Technical Leadership & Mentorship: A go-to technical reviewer for the team's codebase; mentors and onboards teammates; contributes to interviews and candidate experience.

Staff:

• Years of Experience: 7+
• Engineering Craft & Code Quality: Defines and enforces the team's testing strategy, standards, and quality bar; ensures AI-generated output is tightly integrated into existing paradigms and robustly tested.
• Architecture & Technical Knowledge: Designs cross-cutting changes across the stack; provides architectural guidance across the team; owns design docs for major multi-service or multi-surface projects.
• Delivery, Scoping & De-risking: Owns technical scoping and execution strategy for complex, multi-sprint initiatives; audits requirements for technical risk and hidden dependencies before development begins.
• Technical Leadership & Mentorship: The primary technical gatekeeper for the team's codebase; reviews most high-impact work; leads technical grooming, design spikes, and RFCs; coordinates across pods when changes cross domain boundaries.

Principal:

• Years of Experience: 10+
• Engineering Craft & Code Quality: Sets the quality and correctness bar across the department; their work is the example others learn from; improves the automated systems and practices that ensure quality department-wide.
• Architecture & Technical Knowledge: Provides architectural guidance across the department and invents paradigms that solve CodeMetal-specific domain problems (e.g., translation, optimization, deployment across target environments); a key resource on every major system.
• Delivery, Scoping & De-risking: A consistent contributor to the company's technical roadmap; gives reliable estimates for large cross-team initiatives; ensures pragmatic scoping toward the most valuable outcomes.
• Technical Leadership & Mentorship: An active driver of company-wide architectural reviews and proposals; mentors mid-level and senior staff at scale; influences others across departments toward the best technical outcome.

BENEFITS

• Pay depends on experience, but we strive to be at the upper end of the salary range
• Health care plan with 100% premium coverage, including medical, dental, and vision
• 401k with 5% matching
• Paid Time Off (uncapped vacation, plus sick and public holidays)
• Flexible hybrid or remote work arrangement
• Relocation assistance for qualifying employees

Wage Transparency - The salary range for this role is not a guarantee of compensation or salary, as the final offer amount may vary based on factors including, but not limited to, individual proficiency, skills, experience, and location.

We are an equal opportunity employer. US Citizenship may be required for certain project assignments involving security clearance.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.