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CLERA

Forward Deployed Engineer

$150K - $230K San Francisco, CA, US Mid Posted July 17, 2026

Role Description

About the Role

We're an early-stage AI company building a unified platform that automates the payer compliance lifecycle for procedural healthcare specialties — covering benefits verification, medical necessity, prior authorization, and appeals. Our platform integrates directly with EHR systems and payer infrastructure to help clinical practices eliminate claim denials and reduce administrative burden.

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you'll embed with customers to design and build the integration layer connecting our core platform to real-world provider and payer systems. You'll work closely with founders and clients to translate complex, ambiguous requirements into reliable integrations — and ship production features that directly impact revenue and user experience.

This is a hybrid role based in New York, NY, with some travel to client sites required.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this role. Candidates must be legally eligible to work in the United States.

What You'll Do

  • Own provider and payer integrations end-to-end — from discovery through to production.
  • Join client discovery sessions to map workflows and convert them into technical requirements.
  • Build and maintain integrations using REST APIs where available, and scrapers/RPA where needed (e.g., legacy payer portals).
  • Ship custom integrations quickly to meet client needs and business timelines.
  • Contribute to the core product when integration work allows.
  • Develop deep working knowledge of the US provider/payer landscape, including EHR systems (e.g., Epic, Athena, eClinicalWorks) and payer policies.
  • Work across a Python/FastAPI backend and React + TypeScript frontend as needed.
  • Operate with cloud infrastructure on AWS or GCP and manage Postgres-backed services.

What We're Looking For

Required

  • 2–5 years of full-stack engineering experience.
  • Startup experience on small teams with broad ownership and comfort with ambiguity.
  • Proven track record of owning features or products end-to-end.
  • Strong experience integrating with third-party RESTful APIs (authentication, data mapping, error handling).
  • Hands-on experience building scrapers or RPA tooling for legacy systems.
  • Familiarity with healthcare IT and data standards (HIPAA/HITECH, HL7) and US healthcare domain knowledge.
  • Cloud infrastructure experience on AWS or GCP.
  • Proficiency with Python, FastAPI, React, TypeScript, Postgres, and GitHub.
  • Active use of AI coding tools (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code) and experience shipping production work with them.
  • Strong English communication skills — able to explain technical tradeoffs clearly to non-technical stakeholders.

Nice to Have

  • Experience building AI-enabled features in production (beyond using coding assistants).
  • Prior experience as a Forward Deployed or customer-facing engineer.
  • Willingness and ability to travel to client sites for on-site engagements.

Compensation & Benefits

  • Salary: $150,000 – $230,000 per year, depending on experience.
  • Early-stage equity opportunity.
  • High-impact role with direct visibility into company growth and product direction.

Location

  • New York, NY — hybrid (in-person presence required when needed).
  • Some travel to client sites may be required as part of the forward-deployed nature of the role.
  • No visa sponsorship available; must be authorized to work in the US.

About Forward Deployed Engineering

Forward Deployed Engineers are embedded directly with customers to build custom solutions, integrate products into existing infrastructure, and bridge the gap between product engineering and customer success. The role combines deep technical skills with the ability to operate in client environments and translate business requirements into working software.

Originally pioneered by Palantir, the FDE model has spread across AI, enterprise SaaS, and cloud infrastructure companies. FDEs write production code, architect integrations, train customer teams, and feed product insights back to the core engineering organization. At companies like OpenAI, Salesforce, and Databricks, FDE teams are treated as elite engineering units that can ship custom solutions in days rather than quarters.

Typical FDE stack: Python, TypeScript, SQL, REST/GraphQL APIs, cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure), and increasingly LLM APIs and AI orchestration frameworks. Strong communication and the ability to context-switch between technical and business conversations are as important as coding ability.

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