Forward Deployed Engineer — Enterprise AI / SAP Intelligence
Role Description
Forward Deployed Engineer
Snapshot: $175K–$250K base + equity · New York City · On-site (5 days) · No visa sponsorship · 3–5+ yrs technical customer-facing
THE OPPORTUNITY
Our client is a well-funded, AI-native enterprise-intelligence company (~40 people, founded 2024, $60M raised, London + NYC) that reverse-engineers legacy SAP code into visual knowledge graphs — making massive software migrations and process changes predictable and safe in minutes rather than months. As a founding US Forward Deployed Engineer, you'll own technical deployments and long-term success with the most strategic enterprise clients.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
Lead hands-on technical deployments and onboarding for Fortune 100 customers on-site. Develop and sustain post-sale relationships, converting pilots into multi-year partnerships. Create the US deployment playbook with processes and tooling for scalable onboarding. Provide product insights and expansion opportunities to leadership. Build and mentor the growing US deployment team.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
First 90 days: deploy with early enterprise customers and establish credibility. First year: convert pilots to multi-year partnerships and stand up the US deployment function.
MUST-HAVES
3–5 years in technical customer-facing roles (forward-deployed engineer, solutions engineer, or technical CSM); comfort deploying at Fortune 100 scale; excitement to help establish a founding US team.
NICE-TO-HAVES
SAP / S/4HANA / enterprise-ERP experience; AI/ML platform background; experience building a deployment function.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
$175K–$250K base (USD), competitive equity.
LOCATION & WORK MODEL
On-site 5 days/week in New York City.
HIRING PROCESS
Our team will walk you through the full interview process when we connect.
ABOUT THIS SEARCH
This is a confidential search managed by our recruiting team on behalf of our client. We've kept the company name off the posting — apply and we'll share full details and introduce you directly. We're an equal-opportunity partner and welcome applicants of all backgrounds; compensation reflects the role's posted range.
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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