Forward-Deployed Software Engineer (FDSE)

Type: Full-time | Hybrid (2–4 days in-office) | San Francisco, CA
Compensation: $150K–$200K + equity
Visa sponsorship: Not available for this role (must be authorized to work in the US without sponsorship)

About the Company

We're an early-stage, well-funded AI company helping large enterprises measure and maximize the ROI of their AI investments. Our software combines advanced research with deep data analysis to generate dynamic, tailored roadmaps for each organization. Backed by leading investors and prominent voices in AI, and built on peer-reviewed academic methodologies, we already work with major enterprise customers and have real revenue and traction. Based in San Francisco.

Why Join

• High-impact enterprise work: Solve real-world data and engineering challenges directly with large enterprise clients.
• Work with a strong team: Collaborate with accomplished AI researchers, data scientists, strategists, and platform engineers.
• Ownership and growth: Meaningful equity in a fast-growing company with genuine market traction.
• Shape the product: Your client-facing insights directly inform the product roadmap; you'll work with senior stakeholders and travel to client sites.

The Role

As a Forward-Deployed Software Engineer, you'll work directly with enterprise clients to solve high-impact data and engineering challenges. You'll embed with client teams to understand their systems, extract and transform complex datasets, and build scalable solutions. This is a technical-first role: you'll write production-grade code, build data pipelines, and integrate with messy real-world systems.

What You'll Be Doing

• Deploy on-site or work closely with client engineering teams to extract data from enterprise systems (ERPs, data warehouses, SaaS tools)
• Write clean, efficient, maintainable code in Python, SQL, and other languages as needed
• Build and deploy data pipelines, APIs, and internal tooling to support analytics and modeling workflows
• Partner with customer stakeholders (technical and non-technical) to deeply understand their systems, workflows, and pain points
• Collaborate with internal data scientists, strategists, and platform engineers to deliver end-to-end solutions
• Surface client insights that inform the product roadmap and internal tooling priorities

Tech stack: Python, SQL, AWS

Requirements

• 3–5 years in a data-heavy, customer-facing software engineering role (e.g., Sales Engineer, Solutions Engineer, Forward-Deployed Engineer, customer-facing SWE)
• Experience in at least one customer-facing technical role (e.g., FDE, Solutions Architect)
• Experience building and deploying data ingestion/integration pipelines using Python and SQL
• Deep experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS) and enterprise systems (ERPs, data warehouses)
• Able to work hybrid from our San Francisco office (2–4 days per week)
• Willing to travel occasionally to client sites

Nice to Have

• Experience at an early-stage startup (Seed to Series B)

Interview Process

• Recruiter Screen (20–30 min)
• Initial Screen with Hiring Manager (30 min)
• Take-Home (Offline)
• Take-Home Review (1 hour)
• Final Interview with CEO (45 min)
• Offer