Forward Deployed Engineer

Location: San Francisco, CA
Employment Type: Full-Time, Permanent
Work Arrangement: Onsite
Company: Confidential High-Growth Technology Firm

The Opportunity

A confidential, high-growth technology company in San Francisco is seeking an experienced Forward Deployed Engineer to lead customer-facing technical implementations and solve complex, real-world business challenges.

This position is ideal for an engineer who combines strong software engineering expertise with excellent communication, problem-solving, and customer relationship skills. You will work directly with customers, understand their technical and operational needs, and develop scalable solutions that deliver measurable value.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner directly with customers to understand their business objectives, workflows, and technical requirements.
• Design, build, deploy, and maintain customer-specific technical solutions.
• Translate complex customer needs into practical and scalable engineering solutions.
• Manage technical implementations from initial discovery through deployment and ongoing optimization.
• Collaborate closely with engineering, product, sales, and customer success teams.
• Integrate the company's platform with customers' systems, APIs, data sources, and infrastructure.
• Troubleshoot technical issues and provide clear, timely solutions.
• Communicate technical concepts effectively to both engineering and non-technical stakeholders.
• Gather customer feedback and help influence the product and engineering roadmap.
• Build reusable tools and processes that improve future customer deployments.

Required Qualifications

• At least four years of relevant professional experience in software engineering, solutions engineering, forward-deployed engineering, or a related technical role.
• At least two years of experience working in a customer-facing technical role within a top-tier technology, robotics, or healthcare IT startup.
• Previous experience as a Forward Deployed Engineer, Solutions Engineer, Implementation Engineer, Technical Solutions Engineer, or in a comparable position.
• Bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science or a closely related engineering discipline from a leading U.S. university.
• Strong software engineering, systems integration, API, data, and debugging capabilities.
• Demonstrated ability to work directly with customers and translate business requirements into technical solutions.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong ownership, adaptability, and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to succeed in a fast-paced startup environment with changing priorities.
• Must currently reside within commuting distance of San Francisco.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting enterprise or technically sophisticated customers.
• Experience deploying software into complex customer environments.
• Familiarity with Python and modern backend technologies.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure, databases, APIs, and system integrations.
• Background in AI, robotics, healthcare technology, or other technically complex products.
• Experience working cross-functionally with product, engineering, sales, and customer success teams.

Important Requirements

• This position requires an onsite presence in San Francisco.
• Relocation assistance is not available.
• Employment visa sponsorship or transfer is not available.
• Candidates must already be authorized to work permanently in the United States without current or future sponsorship requirements.