Forward Deployed Engineer

About SpacetimeDB SpacetimeDB is redefining how real-time applications are built. It is a database that is also a server. Instead of stitching together databases, application servers, APIs, and synchronization layers, developers write their backend as a module that runs directly inside the database. The result is dramatically simpler architecture, less infrastructure to manage, and a fundamentally better developer experience for building multiplayer games, AI-native applications, collaborative software, and any application where live data matters. The technology is real, our developer community is growing, and we're building the team to match. The Role This is a hands-on engineering role for someone who enjoys working directly with developers. You'll partner closely with our Founding Sales Lead throughout the sales process. They'll own the commercial relationship. You'll own the technical conversation. While the CEO will stay involved with select strategic accounts, you'll be the primary technical point of contact for most prospective customers, helping them evaluate SpacetimeDB, answer architecture questions, and get their first applications up and running. After customers adopt SpacetimeDB, you'll stay involved as they build. Every customer has different goals, different constraints, and different technical challenges. Some will need help integrating SpacetimeDB into an existing architecture. Others will need help figuring out how to model their application, improve performance, or work through technical roadblocks. Your job is to help them succeed. Just as importantly, we don't expect you to simply work around product limitations. When developers keep running into the same problem, we want you to dig into why, help them get unstuck today, and bring those insights back to the engineers building SpacetimeDB so tomorrow's customer has a better experience. What You'll Do Partner with the Founding Sales Lead throughout the sales process, serving as the primary technical point of contact from initial evaluation through successful deployment. Help developers evaluate SpacetimeDB by answering architecture questions, guiding proofs of concept, and solving difficult technical problems. Work directly with customers as they integrate SpacetimeDB into their applications, helping them navigate technical tradeoffs and build successful production systems. Build reusable examples, templates, code samples, and developer tooling that make it easier for customers to adopt and succeed with SpacetimeDB. Find the rough edges in SpacetimeDB by working closely with customers, then partner with the database engineering team to improve the product and overall developer experience. Gather customer feedback from technical engagements, Discord, and other community channels, then translate recurring challenges into actionable product improvements. Help customers navigate known product limitations while identifying opportunities to eliminate workarounds and improve the core platform. Work with DevRel to improve documentation, onboarding, tutorials, demos, and sample applications while bringing real-world customer feedback back into the company. Contribute to technical content, demos, and other go-to-market efforts that inspire developers to build with SpacetimeDB. Who You Are You're an experienced software engineer who enjoys working directly with other developers. You can comfortably lead technical conversations with engineers, founders, CTOs, and other technical decision-makers. You enjoy solving difficult technical problems and explaining complex concepts clearly. You have experience building web applications and a strong understanding of modern backend architecture. Experience with multiplayer game development is highly desirable. You have a strong understanding of databases, APIs, networking, distributed systems, and modern application architecture. You enjoy learning new technologies and can quickly become an expert in a complex technical product. You're comfortable working independently and thrive in an early-stage startup where engineering, product, sales, and customer conversations naturally overlap. Strong Advantages Experience working in a Forward Deployed Engineer, Solutions Engineer, Sales Engineer, Developer Relations, or other technical customer-facing engineering role. Experience helping customers deploy or integrate developer platforms, databases, infrastructure software, or cloud services. Experience building multiplayer game backends, real-time collaborative applications, or other distributed systems. Experience with networking models, state synchronization, authoritative server architectures, or similar real-time technologies. Experience contributing to open source projects, technical documentation, tutorials, conference talks, or developer communities. Experience working closely with sales teams during technical evaluations and customer implementations. Compensation & Benefits We are a fully remote global company. Successful applicants, regardless of location, must be available to collaborate during our core working hours of 2:30 PM to 6:00 PM UTC. Our compensation philosophy is based on paying competitively within each candidate's local market while recognizing individual experience, technical expertise, and impact. Estimated Annual Base Salary Range: $50,000 - $195,000 USD Note: Final compensation will be dynamically benchmarked against your specific local market, regional cost of living, and localized labor standards. Offers are customized based on geographic market and choice of engagement model. Final cash figures will be optimized to account for local employer payroll taxes, mandatory benefits, or contractor fee structures to align with our local market benchmarks. Why Join Us? You'll work directly with developers building ambitious applications, help them solve challenging technical problems, and play a key role in how SpacetimeDB is adopted. Every conversation you have will make both our customers and our product better. You'll help developers overcome difficult technical challenges today while helping shape the platform they'll build on tomorrow. If you enjoy building, debugging, teaching, and working at the intersection of engineering, product, and customer success, we'd love to hear from you.