Forward Deployed Engineer

About Special

Special is a new kind of holding company. Our mission is to maximize the efficiency of American taxpayer dollars by transforming its critical industries with AI. We acquire and operate businesses that form the backbone of the American economy and deploy SpecialOS, our proprietary operating system, to make them run more efficiently.

Special is backed by leading investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Human Capital and former members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team. Our team is small, technical, and systems-oriented. Everyone is an individual contributor. We expect strong work ethic and clear communication.

About The Role

When Special acquires a business, you're the one who goes in, learns how it runs, and turns SpecialOS into the system that runs it. This is not a single-vertical role — you'll deploy across every company we own and every vertical we enter.

One week you're in the field watching operators do a job by hand. The next you're shipping the software that does it for them. You'll own integrations into the messy, legacy systems these businesses depend on — billing, payroll, scheduling, ERPs, EHRs — and you'll write the code that connects them to SpecialOS and makes the work more efficient.

Responsibilities

• Deploy and configure SpecialOS at newly acquired companies, from first day in the field to production
• Deeply understand the owners who use our OS every day, including time on-site at our companies
• Build integrations, pipelines, and automations that connect SpecialOS to the systems our businesses already run on
• Turn manual, repetitive operational processes into reliable software
• Rapidly prototype and ship using both traditional and AI-assisted engineering tools
• Partner closely with founders, operators, and the core engineering team to ship polished, production-quality systems
• Carry lessons from each deployment back into the core product so the next one is faster

Basic Qualifications

• Have shipped meaningful production software
• Care deeply about craft, reliability, and the experience of the people using what you build
• Are comfortable working in fast-moving, ambiguous environments where the org and the product are both being built in real time
• Enjoy spending time in the field, on-site with operators, away from a desk
• Are interested in real-world industries — healthcare, services, the physical economy — not just consumer software
• Expertise with modern engineering and AI-native tools
• Communicate clearly and collaborate well across disciplines, including with non-technical operators

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Full-stack ability — comfortable across backend, data, and front-end
• Strong track record building integrations and working with messy, real-world data and legacy systems
• Experience translating requirements from non-technical users into shipped software
• Experience working closely with founders and operators in early-stage or deployed environments
• Comfort owning a problem from ambiguous first contact through production

Location

In-person in NYC.

Compensation and Benefits

$150,000–$300,000 USD

Base salary is one part of our total rewards package at Special, which also includes meaningful equity, comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k), short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, and additional benefits.

Special is an equal opportunity employer.

Compensation Range: $150K - $300K