Forward Deployed DevOps Lead

About us PhysicsX is a deep-tech company with roots in numerical physics and Formula One, dedicated to accelerating hardware innovation at the speed of software. We are building an AI-driven simulation software stack for engineering and manufacturing across advanced industries. By enabling high-fidelity, multi-physics simulation through AI inference across the entire engineering lifecycle, PhysicsX unlocks new levels of optimization and automation in design, manufacturing, and operations — empowering engineers to push the boundaries of possibility. Our customers include leading innovators in Aerospace & Defense, Materials, Energy, Semiconductors, and Automotive. About Us PhysicsX is a deep-tech company with roots in numerical physics and Formula One, dedicated to accelerating hardware innovation at the speed of software. We are building an AI-driven simulation software stack for engineering and manufacturing across advanced industries. By enabling high-fidelity, multi-physics simulation through AI inference across the entire engineering lifecycle, PhysicsX unlocks new levels of optimisation and automation in design, manufacturing, and operations — empowering engineers to push the boundaries of possibility. Our customers include leading innovators in Aerospace & Defence, Materials, Energy, Semiconductors, and Automotive. The Role The Deployment Engineering team is responsible for deploying the PhysicsX platform into customer-owned infrastructure. This is a technically complex, high-stakes process: working with customer IT teams to map their environment, navigating security and compliance requirements, standing up the infrastructure needed to run our Kubernetes-based Platform, and seeing the deployment through to success. You'll be accountable for the end-to-end success of these deployments. As a Deployment lead, you will act as a Field CTO, you are the Deployment Engineering leader for your region — the person who owns both the relationships and the results. You'll be the primary point of contact for the CIOs and CTOs of our most strategic accounts, building the kind of trusted technical partnership that turns a deployment into a long-term relationship. At the same time, you'll lead and grow the deployment team for your region, setting the standard for how we deliver and scaling the team to match our ambitions. This is a hybrid role. You're expected to lead at the executive level and roll up your sleeves when the situation calls for it. The best candidate will be someone who has built and shipped complex infrastructure systems, and who can translate that experience into credibility and clarity when sitting across the table from a customer's engineering leadership. Who We're Looking For Technical depth with executive presence. You have a strong engineering background — in infrastructure, platform, or systems engineering — and the communication skills to make complex topics land clearly with a CIO or CTO. Customer-first instinct. You build trust with customers by being straight with them: on timelines, on constraints, on what's possible. You understand that a successful deployment is only valuable if the customer feels confident throughout the process, and you hold yourself accountable for that experience. Leadership that scales teams. You've hired and developed technical people and have a track record of building teams that execute at speed. You set high standards, coach others to meet them, and create the environment for your deployment engineers to do their best work. Commercial awareness. You understand the relationship between technical delivery and commercial outcomes. You'll work closely with delivery teams to make sure the deployment programme aligns with what customers have committed to, and you're not afraid to flag when it doesn't. Comfort in complex, regulated environments. Our customers operate in sectors where security, compliance, and infrastructure governance are non-negotiable. You've navigated these environment…