Forward Deployed Engineer
AustinWorksAbout the role
Forward Deployed Engineer
New York, San Francisco, or Austin
$200-$300k base salary + highly competitive equity
About the Company
Our client is a fast-growing applied AI company building tools that help engineering teams automate and accelerate software development. They are working with large enterprise customers to deploy these systems into real production environments and are focused on solving complex, high-impact technical problems. The team is small, highly selective, and composed of experienced builders and operators.
About the Role
Our client is hiring a Forward Deployed Engineer to work at the intersection of engineering, product, and customer. In this role, you will partner directly with engineering teams to understand their workflows and implement solutions that deliver real value in production environments.
This is a highly hands-on, technical role with a strong customer-facing component. You will be responsible for driving projects from early discovery through deployment and adoption, often operating in fast-paced and ambiguous settings.
What You’ll Do
Work closely with customer engineering teams to understand problems and identify high-impact use cases
Build and implement solutions directly within real-world systems and codebases
Run technical demos, pilots, and proof-of-concepts
Collaborate across engineering and product teams to improve functionality and usability
Translate complex technical concepts into clear, actionable insights for a range of stakeholders
What We’re Looking For
Strong technical foundation with experience building software systems
Background in software engineering, solutions engineering, or a similar hybrid role
Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences
Comfort operating in fast-moving, ambiguous environments with a high degree of ownership
Interest in working closely with users and solving real-world problems
Nice to Have
Experience working in customer-facing technical roles
Background at early-stage startups or as a founder / founding engineer
Exposure to modern AI systems or developer tools
History of building side projects or working across the stack
Additional Details
Hybrid/in-office environment in major U.S. tech hubs
Opportunity to work on cutting-edge technology with real-world impact
Competitive compensation and meaningful equity
Responsibilities
- Work closely with customer engineering teams to understand problems and identify high-impact use cases
- Build and implement solutions directly within real-world systems and codebases
- Run technical demos, pilots, and proof-of-concepts
- Collaborate across engineering and product teams to improve functionality and usability
- Translate complex technical concepts into clear, actionable insights for a range of stakeholders
Qualifications
- Strong technical foundation with experience building software systems
- Background in software engineering, solutions engineering, or a similar hybrid role
- Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences
- Comfort operating in fast-moving, ambiguous environments with a high degree of ownership
- Interest in working closely with users and solving real-world problems
Benefits
- Competitive compensation and meaningful equity
- Opportunity to work on cutting-edge technology with real-world impact
- Hybrid/in-office environment in major U.S. tech hubs
Skills mentioned
About AustinWorks
Proven experience recruiting for technical talent with speed, precision and no bull. We connect quality candidates to quality teams across Artificial Intelligence, Software & Back End Engineering, Analytics, Product, and Marketing. AustinWorks is a boutique recruitment firm for people who care about quality over volume, clarity over fluff, and humans over headcount. If you're building something that matters - and you want to do it with the right people - let's connect - charlie@austinworks.co