Solutions Engineer Manufacturing

This role is located in Japan - We are a remote work environment for 2026 with future plans to open up an office in 2027.

Candidates must possess a valid Japanese work visa at the time of application. We are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this position.

Tulip the leader in AI-native frontline operations is helping companies around the world equip their workforce with composable connected apps leading to higher quality work improved efficiency and end-to-end traceability across operations. Tulips cloud-native no-code platform powered by embedded AI is driving the digital transformation of industrial environments through composable human-centric solutions that go beyond disrupting the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) category.

A spinoff out of MIT Tulip is headquartered in Somerville MA with offices in Germany Hungary Singapore Israel and Japan. Tulip has been recognized as a World Economic Forum Global Innovator a 2024 Deloitte Technology Fast award winner one of Energages Top Workplaces USA and one of Built In Bostons Best Places to Work and Best Midsize Places to Work.

Japan is the worlds #3 industrial powerhouse and the spiritual home of Lean manufacturing. We are establishing our Japanese entity to accelerate digital transformation in this critical market.

About You:

As a Forward Deployed Solutions Engineer you work directly with manufacturers to design build and deploy solutions on Tulips Frontline Operations Platform. You operate at the intersection of solution engineering manufacturing operations and customer outcomes translating real shop-floor problems into scalable production-ready solutions.

You will embed with Japanese world-class manufactures at their facility to rapidly implement applications integrations and workflows that improve quality productivity and traceability across manufacturing operations.

What skills do I need

• 8-10 years of experience in manufacturing industrial software or manufacturing-focused technology roles with at least 4 years of experience in direct customer-facing or consultant roles
• Ability to walk a shop floor and independently identify opportunities for operational improvement
• Experience with Operations Technology including MES ERP quality or production systems (Architecture and implementation experience strongly preferred)
• Experience integrating systems and devices in manufacturing environments
• Strong understanding of manufacturing workflows quality traceability and operational constraints
• Proven ability to lead complex technical or operational initiatives end to end
• Strong project management organization and communication skills
• Comfortable and experienced in customer-facing technically deep conversations
• Ability to think creatively and strategically while delivering practical solutions
• A demonstrated commitment to viewing problems through the customers lens
• Ability to learn quickly and lead by example in ambiguous environments
• BS degree in Engineering or a related technical field (or equivalent experience)
• Must be able to travel up to 75%
• Business level of English to communicate with internal team and handle English knowledge database
• A self-starter who identifies challenges and creates solutions without waiting for instructions.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced ever-changing environment where roles and processes are still being defined.

Key Responsibilities:

Customer-Embedded Solution Delivery

• Partner with plant-level and corporate stakeholders at a customers site (operators engineers IT quality operations leadership)
• Lead design build and deployment of customer-specific Tulip solutions
• Work side by side with customers and partners to implement solutions in live manufacturing environments
• Deploy solutions to live production environments with minimal disruption

OT / IT Integration

• Integrate with shop-floor systems such as PLCs MES/ERP and quality systems
• Work with machine data events and production context (orders materials routings)
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex issues spanning software data and operational workflows
• Serve as the technical owner for forward-deployed customer solutions

Technical Leadership & Enablement

• Serve as the technical authority during customer deployments
• Advise on architecture scalability security and reliability in regulated or high-availability environments
• Document solutions and share learnings across internal teams
• Communicate and work with broader customer team to strategize for success

Product & Platform Feedback

• Represent the voice of the customer to Product and Engineering teams and collaborate to influence Product roadmap and feature design
• Help generalize customer-specific solutions into reusable product capabilities
• Contribute to internal process development best practices and cross-team collaboration

Key Collaborators:

• Tulip Account Executives
• Customer Success Managers
• Product Managers
• Engineering

Working At Tulip

We know even great candidates experience imposter syndrome. Even if you dont match every requirement applying gives you the opportunity to be considered.

Were building a strong diverse team that values hard work families and personal well-being. Benefits of working with us include:

• Direct impact on product and culture
• Company equity
• Hybrid Work Style
• Learning & Development benefit
• Comprehensive social insurance package (Health Pension Employment and Workers Compensation
• Commutation Allowance

We are an equal opportunity employer. At Tulip we celebrate all. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race religion color national origin gender sexual orientation age marital status veteran status or disability status. Help us build an inclusive community that will transform frontline operations.