Role Description
Forward Deployed Engineer - Full Stack
SF / NYC / Some Travel / $200k-$400k + Early Stage Equity
We’re hiring an engineer who can take an AI system from a blank page to something a customer relies on every day. You’ll work inside enterprise client environments, figure out what’s actually broken or slow, and build the software that fixes it.
Most of the work is LLM-powered and agentic systems, retrieval-based applications, and the APIs and interfaces that sit around them. You’ll get GenAI features out of prototype and into production, then stay on the hook for evals and reliability so things keep working once you’ve left the room.
This suits engineers with a customer-facing, applied AI or consulting background, especially anyone who has worked at a top strategy or technical consulting firm. A strong CS degree is expected.
What We’re Looking For:
- 3+ years of industry experience
- Strong Python and/or TypeScript in production
- Comfortable owning a problem end to end, from backend to frontend
- Track record shipping data-heavy or AI-enabled applications
- Easy in front of customers, and able to explain things to technical and non-technical people alike
- Open to travel, roughly 20 percent
- Wants startup pace and real ownership
Nice to Have:
- Prior forward-deployed or customer-facing engineering role
- Hands-on production work with LLMs or agents
- React experience
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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