Founding Forward Deployed Engineer

About the Role

Join an applied AI team in a venture-backed vertical SaaS business, building and deploying solutions for enterprise customers. This founding role will help shape the team's technical approach and its growing forward deployed engineering function.

What You'll Do

• Lead customer discovery and translate business needs into product specifications and AI workflows.

• Own end-to-end technical deployments, from initial build through customer adoption and ongoing maintenance.

• Work on-site with customer leaders and teams to deliver solutions, with deployments that may last several weeks.

• Develop shared data models and workflows that can be productized across verticals.

• Partner with company leaders to define and execute the applied AI strategy.

• Help establish the forward deployed engineering team as it grows.

What We're Looking For

• Four to six years of experience in forward deployed engineering or a related technical, customer-facing role.

• Experience building and deploying AI or software solutions for enterprise B2B clients, including ownership of a deployment from initial development through adoption.

• Strong technical breadth across full-stack engineering, system architecture, data pipelines, LLM application patterns, and AI/ML.

• Substantial enterprise software experience and the ability to translate business needs into technical solutions.

• A bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.

• Comfort with frequent customer travel, approximately 50%, and working on-site for extended deployments.

• Must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary: $200,000 to $250,000 annually. Equity details were not provided.

Location

On-site in Chicago, Illinois, or New York, New York, five days per week. Relocation to either location is an option.