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Founding Forward Deployed Engineer

$100K - $130K San Francisco, CA, US Mid Posted May 04, 2026

Role Description

We’re looking for a forward deployed engineer to bring Avent into the real world.

You’ll work directly with customers, understand how their business actually runs, and turn that into working systems. This is where the product meets reality.

What you’ll do

  • Work directly with customers and rethink how their business operates using Avent
  • Understand workflows, constraints, and edge cases, then build systems that actually work inside them
  • Write code, integrate systems, and make everything feel seamless in real time
  • Own deployments end-to-end and get customers live

What we’re looking for

  • You understand businesses deeply and show up to conversations as a peer, not someone asking basic questions
  • You take ownership and move fast without waiting for instructions
  • You care about details, how things look, feel, and land in front of a customer
  • You build things that work in the real world, not just in theory

*Tech we use: Next.js, TypeScript, Python (FastAPI), PostgreSQL*

Our culture

  • We own outcomes, not tasks

We take direction, not instructions. We run with things and see them through. * Speed is our advantage

We move fast, close loops, and prioritize execution over perfection. * We care about impact, not optics

We’re here to build something real. Decisions are driven by what works, not how it looks. * We’re in this together

We work in person in San Francisco. Some days are long, some aren’t, but everyone here cares deeply about what we’re building and shows up accordingly.

Compensation

  • Competitive salary + meaningful equity
  • We remove anything that slows you down, relocation, tools, and whatever you need to do great work
  • You’ll be part of a small team building something massive, take on responsibility far earlier than you should, and have the most fun along the way

Compensation Range: $100K - $130K

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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