Forward Deployed Engineer

About Found

Found AI is decision intelligence for industrial operations. We deploy Refinery to build a unified business ontology of a company’s enterprise data and decision logic, including the fragmented legacy data and undocumented decisions their operation runs on. That lets people and agents continuously execute the high-value workflows that depend on many disparate inputs, driving speed, accuracy and measurable operational outcomes. On that foundation, our Forward Deployed Team, working side by side with our customers’ subject matter experts, deploys agents for the revenue, operational and capital decisions every manufacturer, materials company and logistics operator faces: quoting, scheduling, capacity planning, routing and dispatch, and capex. Everything runs in a secured environment and every decision is auditable.

Why this role exists

Every Found deployment pairs engineers with the customer’s experts until a production workflow runs on their data. As deployments multiply, we need engineers who lead them. You’ll lead the deployment for one customer at a time, inside a delivery pod: you capture how the operation works, build the ontology and agents on our platform, and are the customer’s go-to technical lead. A Deployment Strategist runs the account and an Operational Partner advises on the operation.

What you’ll deliver

First 90 days

• Lead workflow capture on a live deployment: SME interviews, process maps, and the data behind each decision.

• Ship the first production agent, built with the customer’s experts and tuned to their tolerance for error.

• Make one recurring piece of deployment work reusable.

First 12 months

• Lead a deployment end to end, with operators deciding daily on what you built and the next use case scoped.

• Earn the customer’s trust as their technical lead, from the plant floor to the executive readout.

• Ship components the product team adopts, so the next deployment starts further ahead.

What you’ll own

• Customer outcomes on your deployment: the metric moves, and the ontology, models, and agents behind it hold up.

• Tested, documented code the next engineer can pick up.

• Evaluations that show whether an agent’s output is right, and the fix when it isn’t.

• Fast turnaround on customer feedback during a deployment.

• Field signal back to product: what customers needed that the platform didn’t have.

• The technical relationship with the customer’s SMEs, IT, and executives, with no surprises.

What we're looking for

Must-haves

• You’ve shipped production code in Python or TypeScript that other people depend on.

• You write SQL and can model data from systems you didn’t design.

• You’ve built something real with LLMs: an application, agent, or pipeline, at work or on your own.

• You’re at home in a consultative, customer-facing setting: you can interview an operator, map how the work really gets done, and explain a tradeoff to an executive in plain language.

• You say what you don’t know, then go find out. You act without waiting to be asked, and ship a good-enough version you improve in the field.

Nice-to-haves

• Forward deployed, solutions, or consulting work. Prior FDE experience is a plus, not a requirement.

• Familiarity with industrial systems (ERP, MES, TMS, GIS).

• A feel for the UX operators will actually use.

Our Values

We hire against our values that are rooted in Trust. In your work and in conversation, this looks like:

• Trust: is earned and acts as the Foundation of every interaction.

• Childlike Curiosity: you learn perpetually, ask why, and meet the world with wonder.

• Abundance Mentality: you expand through collaboration and optimism. The only limits are the ones you accept.

• Proactive Autonomy: you think independently and take initiative without waiting for permission.

• Execute Relentlessly: you move with urgency and discipline, turning ideas into outcomes through obstacles.

• Intellectual Honesty: you pursue truth over ego, challenge ideas rigorously, and adapt to new evidence.

• Collective Accountability: you share responsibility for the quality and impact of what we build together.

Logistics

• Location: Chicago hybrid. 25% to 50% travel to customer sites, heaviest during the workshop and workflow capture.

• Reports to: Co-founder & CTO

• Experience: 3+ years of consulting, software or data engineering

• Compensation: $155K–$185K base

• Equity: Yes.

• Benefits: Medical (BCBSIL Blue PPO, 90% company-paid), dental (75% company-paid), and voluntary vision coverage.

• Type: Full-time

How to apply

• What we want to see: a short note on why this work, plus something you built (repo, demo, or write-up). No formal cover letter.

• What the process looks like: intro call with the CTO, a working session (build a small piece of a deployment from a sample dataset, then walk us through it), a values and role loop with the team, references, then an offer. Typically two to three weeks.

• AI in your application: use whatever tools you’d use on the job, including AI. We care that you can direct it well and stand behind every word as your own.

Equal opportunity

Found AI is an equal opportunity employer. We hire on evidence of the work and the values above, not pedigree. If you read the must-haves and you’re close but not a perfect match, apply anyway and tell us why you’d be good at this. The calibration above means we’d rather assess than screen you out. We’ll provide reasonable accommodation in the hiring process on request.