Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)

Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)

Location: San Francisco, CA (On-site, Monday–Friday)
Employment Type: Full-Time
Compensation: 165,000–250,000
Equity: Competitive equity

Visa Sponsorship: Open to visa transfers, including OPT and H-1B transfers.

About the Opportunity

We are seeking a highly agentic and client-facing engineer to help deploy multimodal AI systems into production for the insurance industry.

This opportunity combines hands-on software engineering, applied AI, and direct customer engagement. You'll work closely with clients to understand their challenges, build and deploy technical solutions, and own projects end-to-end.

The ideal candidate has a strong technical foundation, excellent communication skills, and a track record of building and shipping production software, preferably at an early-stage, VC-backed startup.

What You'll Do

• Individually deploy multimodal, agentic AI systems into production with major business impact. Own client deployments end-to-end, from scoping through go-live, acting as the primary point of contact for senior client stakeholders.

• Build and manage client relationships, understand challenges, align priorities, and become a trusted partner executives rely on to scale their AI adoption.

• Design, build, and evolve AI agents that deliver optimal claims outcomes, including prompt engineering, model integration, and rapid prototyping using AI-assisted coding tools.

• Work with applied AI daily, scoping and developing new features that help customers scale while consistently improving claims results.

• Integrate products into client environments, working hands-on with their technical teams on APIs and systems.

• Coordinate with the core platform team to ensure smooth delivery and improve the product through actionable customer insights.

• Capture and share best practices in internal playbooks to help scale Forward Deployed Engineering.

Required Qualifications

• 1–5 years of experience in a technical role using Python, ideally with client-facing responsibilities.

• Experience building and shipping production code in at least one of the following environments:

  • A VC-backed startup.

  • As a founder or founding engineer.

  • A fast-paced public technology company with a strong engineering environment.

• A STEM undergraduate degree from a reputable university in the US, Canada, or Europe. Candidates with undergraduate degrees outside these regions must have qualifying experience at an exceptional, well-funded VC-backed startup or top-tier technology company.

• Strong software engineering fundamentals, including data structures, algorithms, and system design.

• Proficiency in Python.

• Familiarity with large language models (LLMs), prompt engineering, and agentic AI concepts.

• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to explain technical concepts clearly and build trusted client relationships.

• Demonstrated ability to build and deploy technical solutions and take ownership of projects end-to-end.

• Willingness to work on-site five days per week in San Francisco.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in an early-stage or high-growth, VC-backed startup.

• Previous experience in a client-facing engineering, solutions architecture, or other technical, customer-centric role.

• Graduation from a top-20 university for your academic program.

• Experience working directly with customers to sc