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Staff Forward Deployed Engineer

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11 days ago

Base Salary

$265k - $295k/yr

Responsibilities

  • Define the technical strategy and architectural vision for forward-deployed engineering, ensuring solutions are scalable, repeatable, and aligned with the platform roadmap.
  • Serve as the senior technical point of contact for complex, high-value customer engagements, including leading AI labs.
  • Translate strategic customer needs into engineering direction and architect and deliver production-grade systems for novel, ambiguous challenges.
  • Align forward-deployed engineering with product, platform, and customer-facing teams so deployments improve the core product.
  • Establish engineering best practices, design patterns, and reusable frameworks for scaling the team’s output.
  • Mentor and develop senior and mid-level engineers while fostering technical excellence, ownership, and customer empathy.
  • Identify and lead initiatives addressing gaps in tooling, infrastructure, and process to improve future deployments.

Requirements

  • 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, including significant experience in customer-facing, solutions-oriented, or forward-deployed roles at high-growth companies.
  • Ability to set technical direction and make architectural decisions spanning multiple teams or systems.
  • Expert proficiency with ReactJS and TypeScript, including frontend performance, component architecture, and design systems.
  • Strong command of relational databases such as PostgreSQL, data modeling, system design, and distributed systems principles.
  • Extensive experience with cloud infrastructure such as AWS and GCP, CI/CD pipelines, and operating production systems at scale.
  • Experience leading ambiguous, high-stakes technical initiatives from zero to one with minimal direction.
  • Exceptional communication skills for influencing senior leadership, external partners, and cross-functional teams.
  • Demonstrated impact mentoring engineers, shaping team culture, and elevating engineering standards across an organization.
  • Preferred experience defining technical strategy for LLM-powered or AI-native production products; building forward-deployed, solutions engineering, or professional services engineering functions; improving developer velocity or deployment reliability through platform or infrastructure decisions; and partnering with C-level or VP-level customer stakeholders.

Benefits

  • Equity in a fast-growing company; 401(k) match; financial coaching; paid parental leave; fertility benefits; parental coaching; medical, dental, and vision coverage; mental health support; $500 wellness stipend; $2,000 learning stipend; ongoing development; internet, commuting support, free lunch, and gym access in the San Francisco office; flexible PTO; 15 holidays and 2 flex days; team outings and referral bonuses.
  • Full-time US employee benefits; 5 days per week in-office in San Francisco, California.