{"id":3424404,"url":"https://alion.io/job/zuora-principal-forward-deployed-engineer","title":"Sr Forward Deployed Engineer","company":{"id":58906,"name":"Zuora","domain":"zuora.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/zuora","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":91,"open_postings":17,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.176,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":89,"computed_at":"2026-10-29T05:49:05Z"}},"role":"Solutions","role_family":"Solutions","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Foster City, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":164800,"max":226600,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":226600},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"Human-in-the-Loop","optional":false},{"name":"LLM","optional":false},{"name":"SQL","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-28T20:12:37Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-28","last_verified_at":"2026-10-29T05:55:25Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":0,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":0},"description":"About Zuora\nAt Zuora, we help businesses grow smarter and adapt faster. Our platform powers modern business models - from subscriptions and usage-based pricing to AI-driven and outcome-based offerings - helping companies launch new products, automate complex billing, and unlock predictable, recurring revenue.\nWe’ve led the Subscription Economy for more than a decade. Now we’re evolving again by building the definitive platform for quote to cash and helping companies monetize their products and services with an adaptable, AI-ready foundation.\nThe Opportunity\nForward Deployed Engineering (FDE) is Zuora's newest technical go-to-market motion, pairing a Forward Deployed Product Manager (internally, an Echo) with one or two Forward Deployed Engineers inside fixed-time customer engagements. This is a full-time role: you'll run a portfolio of engagements deployed in weeks to months, building the playbook as you go. Our focus: building the future of agentic quote-to-cash, which means helping enterprises monetize AI-native and usage-based products, and taking Zuora's new AI agents into their first customer deployments.\nThe job is to own the customer problem end to end and build the answer with the customer: turn a messy field signal into a working prototype, a clear specification and measurable success criteria, take the engagement from idea to production in weeks, not quarters, and leave behind a documented, reusable asset with a commercial next step. You'll work closely with Engineering, Product Management, Product Marketing, Sales, Services and Support to keep every engagement tied to a real customer outcome.\nWhat you'll do & achieve\nDiscover and design\nRun technical discovery with the customer's engineering, product and finance leaders. Map quote-to-cash workflows, exceptions, handoffs and control points, and define the prototype that proves the ideal end-state integration and the success criteria it must meet.\nIdentify and prioritize agent use cases by value, data readiness and risk. Recommend what to automate, what to assist and what to leave to people.\nBe the customer's primary day-to-day contact, and decide what is in and out of scope.\nSpecification & signoff\nDraft the specification with your Forward Deployed Engineer: customer need, gap, build and maintainer of record, plus the agent spec (success metrics, acceptance criteria, level of autonomy, escalation paths and approval rules for any action in a system of record). Drive it through customer sponsor, FDE leadership and Product & Engineering signoff. No unsigned builds.\nBuild golden datasets and eval plans with customer experts, and review results with your engineer at every gate.\nDesign human-in-the-loop controls with the customer's Controllers and Internal Audit, including approvals, segregation of duties and audit evidence.\nCo-build with the customer\nEmbed with the customer's engineering, product and finance teams and build alongside them and your Forward Deployed Engineer. You own the outcome, not a status report.\nShip to a fixed clock. Scope to what the customer's team can run after we leave, not the wishlist.\nStart only with a named customer sponsor and a real resourcing commitment. The customer, not FDE, is usually the long pole on speed.\nBuild first: prototype agents, workflows and pricing models yourself with AI tools, and prove the idea on the customer's real data before engineering commits.\nPull in whatever the outcome needs: Zuora engineers, product, Services, partners, the customer's own people, or agents. Point them at the work; a great engagement puts far more hands on the problem than the pod alone.\nDrive adoption through rollout, and report business impact (hours saved, errors reduced, faster close, cash collected) in terms an executive acts on.\nDeploy agents and AI monetization\nLead first customer deployments of Zuora's new AI agents, from deal desk and quoting to billing and revenue, and identify the use cases and customer segments they open up.\nLead AI-monetization engagements: model usage, credit and hybrid pricing with the customer, and define how metering, entitlements, billing and revenue recognition fit together.\nReuse & readout\nOwn the engagement Brief (our standard exit write-up of what was built, what broke, what's reusable and where it should live next) and the reuse case. Present at the monthly readout and quarterly portfolio review, and turn repeatable patterns into playbooks, product requirements and filed product gaps.\nCommercial partnership\nDual-thread with the account team: the AE owns commercials, you own the technical buyer. Every engagement names its commercial next step before kickoff.\nEnablement\nMentor new teammates as the team grows, and act as the motion's evangelist across the field.\nWhat we look for\nBuilder. Show us what you've built: a product, workflow, agent or tool you shipped that real people use. Walk us through the decisions, the trade-offs and what broke.\nFounder mentality: you act like an owner of the business, not the ticket. You weigh cost, speed and customer impact, make the call, and fix what's broken even when it isn't yours.\nOwnership: you want the ball when the stakes are highest, own the outcome rather than the activity, and see it through.\nPolite persistence: you get to yes without burning bridges. When a customer sponsor, partner or internal team stalls, you chase down the decision, the data or the person the engagement needs, and keep the relationship intact.\nCuriosity: you dig until you understand how the customer's business actually runs, from their pricing and systems to how finance closes the books.\nDoer by default: you'd rather build a working version than write a deck about it.\nForce multiplier: you've delivered outcomes by pulling in people and agents beyond your own team.\nAI-first: you prototype with AI before you ask engineering for anything. You've built a working agent, workflow or prompt-driven tool yourself and can walk us through it, including where it failed and how you caught it.\n5+ years as a customer-facing product manager, CSE, solutions or implementation lead, or software engineer, owning complex enterprise engagements.\nStrong grounding in Zuora's products or comparable billing, CPQ and quote-to-cash platforms. Subscription billing and usage-based monetization depth is ideal.\nWorking knowledge of the quote-to-cash process, including CPQ and deal desk, and of how customers combine billing with third-party metering and entitlement tools.\nHands-on experience shaping LLM or agent solutions: writing and testing prompts, defining evals, and judging outputs against risk tolerance. You do not need to be an ML engineer.\nCan extract the essential requirements from a rambling workshop and turn it into a crisp, decision-ready spec an engineer can build against right away.\nComfort with data (SQL, mapping, reconciliation) and with API and integration concepts.\nCustomers trust you in the room: strong presence with both technical and executive stakeholders.\nComfortable co-defining a role that changes under you.\nNice to have\nFamiliarity with SOX or IT general controls experience, or a CPA or accounting background.\nFounder or early-team experience, ideally in AI monetization, agentic product development and deployment, or the quote-to-cash lifecycle: CPQ, contracts and orders, usage metering and rating, billing, payments, collections and AR, and revenue recognition.\nExperience with subscription billing, usage-based pricing, or monetization platforms.\nExposure to agentic or usage-based AI pricing models, AI agents, or to a prior customer-facing or forward-deployed engineering role.\nHow we'll evaluate\nExpect a deep-dive walkthrough of something you've built, including how you used AI tools to build it, and a conversation about a time you pushed something through when it stalled. We look at judgment (what you delegated, what you checked, when you stopped trusting the output), curiosity and ownership, not just speed.\nWhat success looks like\nCustomers adopt Zuora's agents and AI-monetization capabilities in production and keep using them, with business impact their executives recognize: hours saved, errors reduced, faster close, cash collected.\nEach engagement opens the next: an expansion, a renewal, a reference customer, and a pattern the product team can pave.\nThe customer's team owns what we built, and the Brief makes the next engagement faster.\nAbout the Team\nAs an industry pioneer, our work is constantly evolving and challenging us in new ways that require us to think differently, iterate often and learn constantly. It’s exciting. Our people, whom we refer to as “ZEOs,” are empowered to take on a mindset of ownership and make a bigger impact here. Our teams collaborate deeply, exchange different ideas openly and together we’re making what’s next possible for our customers, community and the world.\n\nBenefits\nZuora offers a comprehensive total rewards package designed to support ZEOs’ wellbeing, growth, and flexibility. While specific offerings may vary by country, we typically provide:\nCompetitive compensation, variable bonus and performance-based reward opportunities, and retirement programs\nMedical, dental, and vision insurance\nGenerous, flexible time off, plus paid holidays, wellness days, and a company-wide year-end break\nPaid parental leave (including fully paid leave for eligible ZEOs, subject to local policy)\nLearning & development stipend to support ongoing growth\nOpportunities to volunteer and give back, including charitable donation matching where available\nMental wellbeing resources and support\n*Benefits may vary by location; details will be shared during the interview process\n#ZEOLife at Zuora\nZEOs (our employees) are empowered to take ownership, challenge the status quo, and make a real impact. We:\nCollaborate deeply across teams and regions\nLearn constantly and iterate often\nBuild an inclusive, high-performance culture where people feel inspired, connected, and valued\nOur Commitment to an Inclusive Workplace\nThink, be and do you.\nAt Zuora, different perspectives, experiences, and contributions matter - everyone counts.\nZuora is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to creating an inclusive environment for all. We do not discriminate on the basis of, and consider individuals seeking employment with Zuora without regard to, race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.\nWe encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply. Applicants in need of special assistance or accommodation during the interview process or in accessing our website may contact us by sending an email to  (or local equivalent, where applicable).\nThe base pay details represent the annualized salary range for the posted position. While we share a comprehensive range, a candidate’s final base salary will fall within these guidelines and will be determined based on multiple factors including but not limited to: qualifications of the candidate, job related knowledge, prior related experience, specific and unique skills, the location of the role, internal equity and internal budget. Base pay is only one element of Zuora’s Total Rewards Package. Additional elements may also include bonus/variable compensation, equity and comprehensive benefits, more details found here.\nBase Pay Details\n$164,800—$226,600 USD","description_format":"text","description_chars":11682,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":5,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Flexible time off","Parental leave","Vision insurance"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Billing & Subscription Management","Subscription Commerce"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-28T21:52:45Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 37 · green card filings: 9","filings_12m":37,"filings_prev_12m":43,"green_card_filings_12m":9,"median_offered_wage_usd":182065,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-15T11:24:14+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)","US Department of Labor: PERM disclosure data (green cards)"],"filings_for_role_12m":12}],"liveness":{"score":90,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.903,"p_room":1,"age_days":0,"expected_fill_days":89,"reasons":["conf:4","velocity","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-29T05:49:05Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":226600,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/zuora-principal-forward-deployed-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/zuora-principal-forward-deployed-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-29T09:08:01Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":13850,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-30T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":58906},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=58906"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fzuora-principal-forward-deployed-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fzuora-principal-forward-deployed-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fzuora-principal-forward-deployed-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/zuora-principal-forward-deployed-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fzuora-principal-forward-deployed-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3424404}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"zuora.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3424404},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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