Forward Deployed Engineer

New York City, NY · On-site · Full-timeCompensation: $240,000–$600,000 (guaranteed base + uncapped quarterly variable) + competitive equity

About the Company

Our client embeds small "pod" teams of strategists and engineers directly into Fortune 500 operations to help enterprises become AI-native. It holds formal partnerships with two top frontier AI labs — its teams sit with their applied-AI teams on live client problems — and partners with other leading AI companies. It was the named partner for a major AI lab's small-business launch, delivering AI-fluency training across 10 US cities. Fully bootstrapped with no outside funding, it grew from 5 people to ~40 in a year and is scaling fast.

Founded 2025 · ~40 people · Industry: AI Consulting

The Role

Forward Deployed Engineers make the strategists' bets real: genuine client-facing software engineers who design, develop, and maintain modern web and agentic applications embedded with Fortune 500 clients. The sweet spot is 3–8 years of professional software engineering, with no hard cap. It's not a mandated always-on culture, but not a standard 40-hour week either — if a deliverable isn't done by Friday, the expectation is to grind through the weekend to land it.

Tech stack: Modern web + agentic application development; agentic coding tools used in daily workflow.

Requirements

• 3–8+ years of software engineering
• Client-facing experience
• High autonomy in ambiguous environments
• On-site in NYC five days a week, plus monthly client travel
• Comfort with a guaranteed base + uncapped variable structure

Nice to Haves

• Genuine client-facing experience where you owned the relationship and delivered real outcomes
• A founder, co-founder, or CTO background at a startup — especially someone who built a solo AI or software-development practice
• A track record of shipping fast and independently
• Comfortable presenting technical architecture in a clear, consultative, non-technical-friendly way
• A background at teams inside larger companies known for strong engineering bars

Why Join

• Frontier-lab proximity: a formal partner to two top frontier AI labs, working alongside their applied-AI teams on real Fortune 500 problems
• Steep growth, real ownership: pods own the domain end to end — most describe it as the steepest growth of their careers
• Uncapped upside: a guaranteed base plus uncapped quarterly variable tied directly to shipped output, with strong performers earning significant variable on top of base

Details

• Location — New York City, NY
• Work policy — On-site, 5 days/week + monthly client travel
• Compensation — $240,000–$600,000 (guaranteed base + uncapped quarterly variable) + competitive equity
• Visa sponsorship — Available (H-1B; TN may be supported — confirm)
• Employment type — Full-time