Company

NestAI is a European AI lab for defence delivering the adaptive operating system for modern battlefield operations. We develop adaptive intelligence for unmanned and command systems: AI that continuously learns from operational data and adapts to changing conditions.

NestOS is our open, modular and interoperable platform that enables this at scale and keeps capability evolution under sovereign European control. Founded in 2025 by Peter Sarlin, whose previous company Silo AI became Europe's largest AI acquisition, NestAI brings together over 200 engineers and scientists and partners with leading European defence forces and industry.

Role Description

We are seeking an exceptionally high-agency Deployment Strategist to join our Forward Deployment Engineering team across our regional hubs in Helsinki, Stockholm and, Latvia. In this role, you will act as the crucial bridge between Business Development (BD), core Product R&D, and Forward Deployment Engineering (FDE). You are the architect of the customer’s problem. While BD shapes strategic opportunities and Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) build solutions, you possess an absolute obsession with the customer's problem and operational mission.

You hold delivery responsibility for our customer deployments, as the person who oversees direction and health across multiple engagements at once. Depending on where you're needed, that might mean taking strategic ownership of a single large, concept-heavy flagship program, or overseeing a portfolio of several smaller accounts in parallel.

You are the person who will discover and nurture the first "embryos" of new products and deployments in close collaboration with the FDE team. You navigate an engagement from its raw, ambiguous early phase into a massive, mission-critical deployment. To do this, you absorb organizational complexity, understanding customer workflows, politics, and constraints, so our engineering teams can focus on technical execution.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities:

• Customer & Problem Obsession: Spend time deep in the field with defence operators, commanders, and key stakeholders. Uncover their hardest problems, understand why they are hard, and ensure Nest AI is solving the right problem, not just any problem.

• Bridge Between BD, Product & Engineering:

  • Partner closely with Business Development to focus commercial efforts on high-value mission problems and build enduring strategic relationships.

  • Support pre-sales activity like new proposals, use-case framing, and early scoping conversations alongside Business Development.

  • Work hand-in-hand with Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) to anchor initial prototype "embryos" into robust field engagements.

  • Channel real-world operational realities back into Product R&D, translating customer mission needs into reusable core platform capabilities.

• Set Deployment Strategy: Own and articulate the overall deployment strategy for customer engagements, charting the roadmap from early capability testing to sovereign, full-scale operational rollout.

• Translate the Possible into Vision: Stay close enough to the technology and the competitive landscape to know what's genuinely possible, and use that judgment to set a credible, compelling vision for customer engagements.

• Navigate the "Embryo" to Deployment: Find early-stage opportunities ("embryos"), validate product-mission fit, build deep stakeholder trust, and navigate the bureaucratic and operational complexities needed to scale into full deployments.

• Absorb Organizational Complexity: Manage stakeholder mapping, political dynamics, user adoption, and process transformation so technical teams can maintain velocity.

Qualifications:

• Deep Experience in Complex Environments: Proven track record (equivalent to 6+ years) operating in strategic advisory, tech deployment, product strategy, technical delivery, or complex customer-facing roles within defence, technology, or high-consequence industries.

• Problem-Obsessed Mindset: Exceptional empathy for users and an obsessive focus on operational outcomes rather than just delivering against a fixed project plan.

• Relentless Execution & Constructive Autonomy: Uncompromising grit and problem-solving focus. When faced with obstacles that seem impossible, you do not stop—you navigate through ambiguity, find creative pathways to a solution, and respect organizational hierarchy without being constrained by it.

• High Technical & Strategic Fluency: Able to hold your own with deep AI/software engineers on one side and senior defence leadership/BD on the other. You translate seamlessly between mission, problem, product, engineering, and adoption.

• Vision-Setting from the Art of the Possible: You can judge what's technologically and operationally feasible and turn that into a credible deployment vision, whether for one strategically important account or a portfolio of smaller ones.

• Embracer of Ambiguity & Extreme Ownership: Ability to step into chaotic, unstructured customer environments, bring clarity, build trust, and drive progress without waiting for a manual.

• Communication & Mobility: Fluency in English and local languages (Finnish, Swedish, or Latvian). Willingness to travel to customer sites and field tests across the Nordic and Baltic regions.

Pluses:

• Prior experience in the defence sector, military operations, aerospace, or sovereign tech.

• Prior exposure to pre-sales or proposal development in a technical, consultative sales environment.

• Exposure to AI/ML systems, robotics, unmanned systems, or enterprise software deployments.

If your background doesn't match every requirement but the work resonates with you, we'd encourage you to apply. How you think, learn, and take ownership matters more to us than ticking every box.

Why join NestAI

At NestAI, you’ll build meaningful, real-world technology as part of a world-class team of engineers, scientists, and experienced professionals. You’ll work on systems where reliability genuinely matters, contribute to Europe’s security and resilience, and solve problems that demand depth, trust, and craftsmanship.

If you want to build with purpose - and with leading experts in the field - you’ve come to the right place.

What we offer

We offer a growing set of practical benefits to support your work and wellbeing, day to day:

• Occupational healthcare (currently provided by Mehiläinen)

• Epassi Flex benefit (sports, culture, commuting, wellbeing)

• Lunch benefit (25% tax-free coverage)

• Regular team lunches and all-hands events

• Your choice of Mac or PC

• Holiday allowance (50% of holiday salary)

• Phone benefit according to company policy (subscription and device)

• We are continuously developing and expanding our benefits as we grow.

Practicalities

Employment is subject to applicable security screening (including SUPO, where required).

NestAI is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all applicants based on their skills, experience, and potential.