Founding Forward Deployed Engineer
About the Role
This is a rare founding-level opportunity at a Series A AI company in the enterprise marketing compliance space. The platform is live with major enterprise customers across CPG, healthcare, and other regulated industries - and is now entering its next phase of rapid scaling.
The Founding Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) sits at the intersection of customer trust, deal velocity, and product direction. You'll go on-site with enterprise customers, uncover what's truly broken, and ship the fix - fast. You're not writing specs and handing them off; you're the one who builds it. You'll work directly alongside executive leadership in live enterprise cycles, and what you learn in the field shapes what gets built next.
This role is ideal for someone who thrives at the crossroads of customers, product, and engineering - not siloed in just one.
What You'll Do
Customer discovery: Go beyond stated needs to surface the real, unmet pain. Ask the sharp questions, differentiate signal from noise, and know what's worth solving.
POC execution: Configure and ship against real customer workflows - write code, build integrations, and drive time-to-value within tight timelines.
Product signal: Bring structured, actionable feedback from the field back to engineering. Identify cross-customer patterns, help prioritize opportunities, and translate findings into product requirements that influence the roadmap.
Stakeholder credibility: Build trust across engineering, design, sales, and customer leadership without needing direct authority. Communicate clearly enough for a CMO, deeply enough for an engineering team. Serve as the external face of the product for customers.
Product partnership: Collaborate closely with founders, product, and engineering to shape roadmap decisions - bringing structure to ambiguity and ensuring what's being built aligns with real customer needs.
What We're Looking For
Requirements
7+ years of professional experience in software engineering, forward deployed engineering, or a closely related technical role
Minimum 2 years average tenure across roles; clear track record of career progression and promotions
Startup experience strongly preferred; strong candidates from CPG or regulated-industry backgrounds will also be considered
Proven ability to conduct customer discovery and translate findings into shipped engineering or product deliverables, quickly
Comfortable writing code and picking up whatever the job requires - full-stack, integrations, scripting, etc.
Experience building products from 0→1 and a clear understanding of how customer feedback shapes product direction
Strong cross-functional communication skills, including executive-level stakeholders (CEO, CDO, brand/compliance leadership)
Must be legally eligible to work in the United States; visa sponsorship is not available
Nice to Have
Experience in AI/ML tooling, workflow automation, or compliance/regtech platforms
Background working with enterprise teams in marketing, brand, creative, or compliance functions
Familiarity with integrations across project management (Asana, Jira, Wrike), design tools (Figma, Adobe CC), or document management systems (Google Drive, Microsoft 365)
Prior experience at companies such as Microsoft, Salesforce, or similar enterprise-scale technology organizations
Compensation & Benefits
Salary: $180,000 - $210,000 per year
Early-stage equity commensurate with a founding-level role
Opportunity to directly shape the product, culture, and trajectory of a fast-scaling AI company
Location
This is a hybrid role based in San Francisco, CA. On-site presence in San Francisco is expected 3 days per week, with additional travel to enterprise customer sites as needed. WFH flexibility on remaining days.