We are looking for a Forward Deployed Engineer with 1-3 years of experience who can talk easily with customers and write production code, to lead implementation on a newly signed U.S. Air Force proof of concept. You'll capture what senior Department of the Air Force leaders know and turn it into AI-powered courses and training programs. You'll work alongside a senior engineer and the founding team at a 20-person, venture-backed AI startup that is heading into its Series A.
What will you be doing?
Act as the main implementation lead for government clients. You'll load their courses, documents and recordings into their AI knowledge systems and knowledge graph.
Manage system prompts and service orchestration safely inside a government Azure (IL5) environment.
Build client requests in Next.js, Python and Java: front-end UI tweaks, new backend tables and file management features.
Lead client calls and explain AI in plain language, so senior, less technical users feel empowered rather than lost.
Split your time roughly 50% coding, 30% customer work and 20% internal alignment. Expect about 25% travel to DC-area sites at first, rising toward weekly near the end of the POC. The company covers all travel.
This is an on-site Direct Hire role based in Los Altos, CA.
- 1-3 years of experience as a customer-facing SWE or Forward Deployed Engineer
- Must be a U.S. citizen and able to pass a government background check
- Shipped LLM or agent systems in production
- Strong programming skills (Python, TypeScript, Next.js); role is about 50% heads-down coding
- Experience deploying software in government or regulated environments (IL5, FedRAMP, or HIPAA)
- Hands-on experience with cloud-based AI platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
- Experience in security, infrastructure, and data privacy
- Ability to simplify technical concepts for less technical senior clients
- Worked in a fast-paced 0-to-1 environment
- Bachelor's in CS or a STEM-related field
- Comfortable with tech including Azure (Government), Neo4j, Next.js, Python, Java, LLMs, RAG, APIs, and data pipelines
- Work onsite 5x/week in Los Altos, CA