We are looking for a Founding Forward Deployed Engineer with 3-5 years of experience to scale our Applied AI business from the ground up, owning end-to-end deployments across a portfolio of 8 (and growing) mission-critical vertical SaaS companies and their customers. This is a zero-to-one founding role with direct access to the co-founders, outsized ownership over the shape of the initiative from day one, and the scope to influence what AI looks like across entire industries.
What will you be doing?
Run discovery, translate business problems into product specs, and build AI workflows and solutions from scratch.
Own full deployment lifecycles, from 0 to 1 through adoption, with true onsite, C-level exposure at the customer level.
Build shared ontology underneath deployments tying together common data models and workflows into productized solutions within verticals (think: centralized platform patterns similar to leading FDE model companies).
Work directly with co-founders and Head of AI to define and execute AI strategy.
Help build out the FDE pod as the team scales. This hire will be foundational to how the function grows.
- Experience at a top-tier FDE model company (Palantir, Scale AI, Ode, Brain Co., Palantir spinoffs e.g. NorthSlope, Distyl AI, Poetic)
- Owned a full technical deployment end-to-end, from 0 to 1 build through customer adoption and post-deployment maintenance
- 4-6 years of experience in forward deployed engineering or technical customer-facing roles, building and deploying AI/software solutions for enterprise B2B clients
- Technical polyglot: comfortable across the full stack including system architecture, data pipelines, and LLM application patterns
- Polyglot programming ability, entrepreneurial mindset, and ability to translate business problems into technical solutions
- Based in or willing to relocate to New York or Chicago, 5 days/week on-site
- Comfortable with ~50% travel, deployed on-site at customer locations for weeks at a time
- Former founder or YC-backed company experience preferred
- BS in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent technical field from a reputable university (e.g. top-25 CS program)