Forward Deployed Engineer
San Francisco, CA · On-site · Full-time Compensation: $180,000–$250,000 + 0%–2% equity
The Role
We're hiring Forward Deployed Engineers to own customer relationships end-to-end. Unlike traditional FDE roles where deployment is separate from product engineering, every engineer here is full-stack and customer-facing. You'll define scope of work alongside customers pre-sale, lead deployment after close, stay on as the customer's primary technical contact, and own a slice of the underlying infrastructure (frontend, backend, or AI agent layer) — so when something breaks for your customer, you fix it.
What you'll be doing
- Own one or more customer relationships end-to-end — pre-sale scope-of-work definition, deployment, and ongoing technical support
- Own a piece of the platform's infrastructure (frontend, AI agent layer, or backend services)
- Define and document scope of work alongside customers in ambiguous conversations
- Lead deployment of AI agents into customer environments and iterate on real production feedback
- Stay on call for your customers when their AI agent has issues — debug, fix, and ship
- Pair with the engineering team on architecture decisions where customer needs and platform direction intersect
Tech stack: Full-stack across frontend (React, TypeScript), backend services, and AI agent / LLM infrastructure
Requirements
- 1-5 years full-stack engineering
- Customer-facing pre-sale + post-sale
- Owns scope of work definition
- Owns a piece of backend infrastructure
- Self-sufficient, customer end to end
Green Flags
- Prior Forward Deployed Engineer or Solutions Engineer experience at a real product company (Palantir, Anthropic, Scale, Cognition, similar)
- Full-stack engineer with a customer-facing track record. Has shipped product to clients and stayed on those clients post-launch, not just thrown work over the wall.
- Comfortable defining scope of work in ambiguous customer conversations. Can document what's in, what's out, and why, without escalating every decision.
- Healthcare, healthtech, or AI agent infrastructure background. Direct domain or product-area accelerator.
- Prior startup or founding-engineer experience where they had to wear multiple hats — full-stack, customer-facing, and infra ownership all at once.
Red Flags
- Pure backend engineer with no customer-facing comfort. Every engineer here is customer-facing. There is no exception.
- Pure customer success or account management background without real engineering depth. The role requires shipping production code, not relationship management alone.