Forward Deployed Engineer (up to $220k)
Dex · United States
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $200,000 / year
- United States
Job highlights
- Shape the future of a novel AI runtime technology.
- Drive customer success from PoC to production.
- Work with Fortune 500s and AI startups.
- Founding role with significant impact potential.
- Remote from Europe with strong compensation.
About the role
About the Role
This company builds a lightweight runtime that turns AI agents, workflows, and backend services into durable processes. Their goal is to let engineering teams focus on business logic, not failure mechanics. Their runtime is already in production at Fortune 500 enterprises, Tier 1 banks running critical financial workflows, and frontier AI startups building production-grade agents. The founders are creators of Apache Flink and leaders from Meta's messaging infrastructure, backed by leading investors.
As the founding Forward Deployed Engineer, you won't just execute a playbook; you'll write it. This is a rare seat to define how the function works, from PoC playbooks and path-to-production patterns to reusable enablement assets and the critical feedback loop into product. You'll own the technical journey from initial PoV/PoC enablement through to production readiness and deployment, working hands-on with sophisticated customer engineers at major enterprises and AI startups.
The Work
- Define the PoC playbook, path-to-production patterns, and reusable enablement assets for a new runtime.
- Own the technical path from PoC success to production readiness, including Kubernetes, cloud setup, observability, networking, and security integration.
- Work directly with customer engineers and OSS evaluators on integrations, reference implementations, and architecture guidance.
- Drive discovery workshops and POV planning, then feed friction and papercuts back into the engineering team, contributing to docs, examples, and SDKs.
- Take part in escalation and on-call rotations for critical customer issues, ensuring production stability.
What You Bring
- Full proficiency in Go or Rust, plus at least one of TypeScript, Java, or Python.
- Strong Kubernetes skills, deep observability instincts, and hands-on experience with AWS, GCP, or Azure.
- You've designed and operated real distributed backend systems in production, understanding failure modes from doing the work.
- A customer-success mindset: you go beyond immediate issues to understand context and activate internal champions.
- Comfortable being the technical face of the product in front of staff and principal engineers at Tier 1 banks and frontier AI teams.
- Eligible to work remotely from Europe.
Why Apply Through Dex
This is a founding role at a company solving a hard problem for major enterprises and frontier AI teams. Roles like this are rare and often oversubscribed. Apply through Dex to get properly briefed, skip the cold application process, and get matched to this role and others like it.
If you're interested, sign up to Dex to apply - https://jobs.meetdex.ai/jobs/dd008655-3c8f-46c0-b72d-a8bc7ff62ad9
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Key skills/competency
- Forward Deployed Engineer
- Go or Rust
- TypeScript, Java, Python
- Kubernetes
- Observability
- AWS, GCP, Azure
- Distributed Systems
- Production Operations
- Customer Success
- Technical Communication
Skills & topics
- Forward Deployed Engineer
- Go
- Rust
- Kubernetes
- Observability
- Cloud
- Distributed Systems
- Customer Success
- AI Runtime
- Backend Engineering
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight Go/Rust, Kubernetes, cloud platforms, and distributed systems experience. Quantify achievements in production operations and customer enablement.
- Showcase customer-facing skills: Emphasize your experience as a technical liaison, driving discovery workshops and providing architectural guidance.
- Demonstrate understanding of failure: Detail your experience designing and operating distributed systems and understanding their failure modes.
- Apply through Dex: Sign up on the Dex platform to get briefed and manage your application for this unique founding role.
Technical preparation
Behavioral questions
Frequently asked questions
- What is a Forward Deployed Engineer role at this company?
- As a Forward Deployed Engineer for this company, you will be instrumental in defining and executing the technical journey for customers adopting their AI runtime. This includes creating playbooks, guiding clients from Proof of Concept to production readiness, and providing critical feedback to the product team. It's a founding role with significant influence.
- What programming languages and technologies are essential for the Forward Deployed Engineer role?
- Proficiency in Go or Rust is required, alongside at least one of TypeScript, Java, or Python. Strong Kubernetes skills, deep observability knowledge, and hands-on experience with major cloud providers (AWS, GCP, Azure) are also crucial.
- What does it mean to be eligible to work remotely from Europe for this position?
- This means you must have the legal right to work remotely as a resident within a European country. The company is looking for candidates who can operate effectively from anywhere within Europe, contributing to their global team.
- How does applying through Dex benefit my job search for this Forward Deployed Engineer role?
- Applying through Dex provides you with a proper briefing on the company and role, helping you understand the culture and requirements. It bypasses the standard cold application process, connecting you directly with opportunities that are a strong fit and potentially others like it.
- What kind of companies are using this company's runtime technology?
- The company's runtime is utilized by Fortune 500 enterprises, Tier 1 banks for critical financial workflows, and leading AI startups building production-grade agents. This indicates a robust and scalable technology adopted by major players in various industries.
- What is the expected impact of a founding Forward Deployed Engineer?
- As a founding engineer, you will significantly shape the customer-facing technical strategy. This includes defining enablement assets, path-to-production patterns, and acting as a key feedback loop to product development, directly influencing the company's go-to-market technical approach.