Forward Deployed Engineer FDE @ AI Startup

Zenline AI; Zürich; On-site; CHF 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Bonus

Competitive salary

Job summary

Zenline AI in Zurich seeks a Forward Deployed Engineer to own AI deployment success for retailers, translating business challenges into AI-powered workflows and turning each deployment into scalable product capabilities.

You will bridge retail and AI, lead customer deployments with executive stakeholders, and shape the product by turning deployment learnings into reusable modules. This founding path offers rapid growth as Zenline scales, with stock options and a bonus structure.

Qualifications

• 2–3 years of customer-facing, fast-paced experience.
• Strong Python and SQL skills with prompt engineering.
• Analytical mindset with ability to quantify business value.
• Ownership mindset from day one and willingness to roll up sleeves.

Responsibilities

• Bridge retail and AI by translating commercial priorities into AI deployments that create measurable value.
• Lead customer deployments with executive stakeholders and category teams.
• Shape the product by turning deployment learnings into reusable modules and integration patterns.
• Own deployments end-to-end and drive measurable impact for Zenline's customers.

Skills

Python

SQL

Prompt engineering

Analytical thinking

Tools

Python

SQL

Job description

About Zenline AI

Every product you buy is the result of a bunch of decisions. Most of them are still made in spreadsheets. At Zenline, we build AI agents that make these decisions for retailers, brands and manufacturers. Our goal is to move the physical product economy into the agentic era.

Our team brings experience from Google, P&G, BCG, Amazon and ETH Zürich, and we are backed by Seedcamp, one of Europe’s leading early-stage funds. We build agent-native, so every new model release makes our agents better.

The role

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you own the success of Zenline’s AI deployments with leading retailers. You work directly with senior commercial and category leaders, translate their biggest business challenges into AI-powered workflows and turn each deployment into scalable product capabilities.

• Bridge retail and AI: translate commercial priorities into AI deployments that create measurable margin and assortment impact
• Lead customer deployments: work directly with executive stakeholders and category teams
• Shape the product: turn deployment learnings into reusable product modules, agent capabilities and integration patterns

This is a founding path with room to grow. As Zenline scales, you can become an Industry Lead within your first year, owning a vertical such as electronics, fashion or FMCG. Your growth, scope and bonus are tied directly to the value you create.

Who we’re looking for

An analytical mind with 2-3 years of experience who thrives in customer-facing, fast-paced environments. You might come from BCG, McKinsey, Palantir, QuantCo or a fast-scaling startup.

• Agentic & technical confidence: Python, SQL, prompt engineering and curiosity for AI
• Analytical depth: strong data intuition, structured problem solving and the ability to quantify business value
• Ownership mindset: from day one you own several customer deployments
• Roll up your sleeves: everyone at Zenline does what needs to be done

What you get

• A founding path: grow into an Industry or Country Lead within your first year
• Help shape Europe’s next generational AI company during its defining years
• Competitive salary, stock options and bonus
• You own your deployments end to end
• The skill of the decade: deploy real AI use cases that change how enterprise teams work
• Zurich-based, in one of Europe’s most vibrant startup ecosystems