PhysicsX vs Flow Engineering

Two of the rare FDE seats that reward a hardware/simulation background over SaaS-integration chops — but at opposite ends of the stage and travel spectrum.

	PhysicsX	Flow Engineering
Open roles	1	1
Comp on board	$180K–$250K base + equity	$165K–$230K OTE + equity
FDE type	True forward-deployed	True forward-deployed
Travel	High	Medium
Comp	Competitive	Equity-heavy
Stage	Late-stage	Early-stage
Our take	One of the few FDE seats where deep simulation/ML beats SaaS-integration chops — and one of the most travel-heavy on the board.	One of the rare FDE seats that rewards a hardware/MBSE background over pure software — first-FDE scope, Sequoia pedigree.

Bottom line

Same unusual profile (engineering depth beats software plumbing), very different bets. PhysicsX is a $300M-Series-C, ~$2.4B scale-up ($180K–$250K base + equity) with heavy quarterly travel across four continents; Flow is a Sequoia-backed early seat ($165K–$230K OTE + equity) that is on-site SF and effectively equity-heavy. Pick PhysicsX for scale and simulation depth, Flow for founding-era scope and MBSE work with space/defense/fusion teams.