Forward Deployed Engineer

Avanti Recruitment; City Of London; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Visa sponsorship

Equity

Job summary

Avanti Recruitment is assisting a fast-growing AI startup in London to hire a Forward Deployed Engineer. This role sits between customers and the engineering team, with 40–50% time spent directly with customers and the rest building production software.

You will understand complex workflows, translate requirements into solutions, and own deployments end-to-end in a small, high-calibre team. Strong TS/React and Python experience are valued, as is the ability to deploy AI/LLM-powered products.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of relevant engineering experience.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals.
• Experience building production software, not just prototypes.
• Ability to understand messy customer requirements and turn them into working technology.
• Confidence communicating directly with senior and non-technical customers.
• Desire to operate in a fast-moving startup with significant ownership.

Responsibilities

• Work directly with enterprise customers to understand complex workflows and problems.
• Translate customer requirements into technical solutions.
• Build and ship production software end-to-end.
• Work across frontend, backend, data and AI-powered functionality.
• Take ownership of customer deployments from problem discovery through to delivery.
• Feed learnings back into the core product and engineering team.

Skills

TypeScript/React

Python

Production software

Customer-facing

Tools

Tech stack exposure

Job description

We’re working with a fast-growing, well-funded AI startup building technology for a huge global industry that has historically relied on manual, complex and outdated processes.

They’re now looking for a Forward Deployed Engineer to sit directly between their customers and engineering team.

This isn’t a pre-sales or traditional solutions role. You’ll spend roughly 40 to 50% of your time working directly with customers, understanding complex real-world problems and translating those requirements into software. The rest of your time will be spent hands-on building and shipping solutions.

What you'll be doing

• Work directly with enterprise customers to understand complex workflows and problems
• Translate customer requirements into technical solutions
• Build and ship production software end-to-end
• Work across frontend, backend, data and AI-powered functionality
• Take ownership of customer deployments from problem discovery through to delivery
• Feed what you learn from customers directly back into the core product and engineering team
• Operate with significant autonomy in a small, exceptionally high-calibre engineering environment

What we're looking for

Ideally, you’ll already have experience working as an FDE, Forward Deployed Software Engineer, Customer Engineer or similar customer‑facing engineer within a highly regarded technology business.

• Around 3+ years of relevant engineering experience
• Strong software engineering fundamentals
• Experience building production software, not just prototypes
• The ability to understand messy customer requirements and turn them into working technology
• Confidence communicating directly with senior and non‑technical customers
• A genuinely engaging, energetic and commercially aware personality
• The ability and desire to operate in a very fast-moving startup with significant ownership

Strong TypeScript/React and Python experience would be particularly relevant, as would experience deploying AI or LLM-powered products into production.

We’ll also consider exceptional engineers from top‑tier technology companies, startups or quantitative/trading environments who haven't formally held the FDE title but can demonstrate the right combination of engineering ability and customer‑facing aptitude.

The environment

This is important.

The company operates with a genuinely high‑intensity startup culture. The team is currently working on a 996‑style basis and this role will not suit somebody looking for a conventional 9‑to‑5 environment.

In return, you’ll join at an early stage, work alongside an extremely strong technical team, have substantial ownership over what you build and receive meaningful equity alongside a £100,000 to £150,000 base salary.

Visa sponsorship is available.

If you’re a strong engineer who enjoys being as close to the customer problem as you are to the code, this is an opportunity to have a major impact at an early‑stage AI company.