Forward-Deployed Engineer

Vercel; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Vercel is seeking a Forward-Deployed Engineer to embed with enterprise customers, driving frontend modernization, platform migrations, and AI adoption. You will lead complex Next.js migrations, architect high-performance apps, and deploy production AI solutions within customer environments.

You will work hands-on with customer teams and report to the Director of Professional Services. You will travel 25-40% to customer sites, navigate ambiguous enterprise environments, and translate technical

Qualifications

• 5+ years in software engineering with at least 2 years in a customer-facing technical role.
• Expert-level TypeScript skills and production experience.
• Deep expertise in Next.js including App Router and SSR/ISR.
• Experience leading frontend migrations to Next.js.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex frontend migrations and modernize legacy React/Vue to Next.js.
• Conduct technical assessments and provide actionable roadmaps.
• Architect and implement high-performance Next.js applications.
• Optimize Core Web Vitals and overall performance.
• Build production AI solutions using Vercel's AI SDK and tools.
• Embed with strategic customers and ship production TypeScript code.
• Drive enablement through workshops and knowledge transfer.

Skills

TypeScript

Next.js

Frontend migrations

Customer-facing role

Job description

About Vercel:

Vercel is the agentic infrastructure company. We free people and agents to ship what’s next.

For more than a decade, Vercel has shaped how the web is built. As the team behind Next.js, v0, and AI SDK, we create products that help builders move from idea to production with speed, security, and exceptional developer experience.

Now, software is entering a new era, and the next generation of products will not just be used by people. They will be built, extended, and operated by agents.

We are building the platform for that future, trusted by companies like OpenAI, PayPal, Ramp, Supreme, and millions of developers worldwide. Whether you’re building our products, supporting our customers, growing our community, or shaping our story, you’ll help define what comes next.

About the role:

We are looking for a Forward‑Deployed Engineer to join our Professional Services team. This is not a traditional consulting role—you will embed directly with our most strategic enterprise customers to drive transformational outcomes across frontend modernization, platform migrations, and AI adoption.

In this role, you will lead complex Next.js migrations, architect high‑performance applications, and build production AI solutions—all within customer environments. You'll work hands‑on‑keyboard alongside customer teams, whether you're migrating a legacy React application to App Router, conducting a deep‑dive code audit, or deploying production agents using Vercel's AI SDK. You will be equally comfortable leading a technical discovery session with engineering leadership as you are refactoring a complex rendering strategy or optimizing an agentic workflow.

Our Forward‑Deployed Engineers operate with high agency and autonomy. You'll navigate ambiguous enterprise environments, assess technical debt, design migration strategies, and deliver measurable business value—all while building long‑term relationships that expand our partnership with each customer.

You will report to the Director of Professional Services and will be remote‑first with significant travel (25‑40%) to customer sites for embedded engagements.

What you will do:

• Lead complex frontend migrations — modernizing legacy React, Vue, or other frameworks to Next.js, including Pages to App Router transitions, incremental adoption strategies, and large‑scale codebase transformations.
• Conduct technical assessments and code audits, analyzing customer codebases for performance bottlenecks, architectural anti‑patterns, and optimization opportunities—delivering actionable roadmaps that drive measurable improvements.
• Architect and implement high‑performance Next.js applications, leveraging App Router, Server Components, streaming, ISR, edge functions, and advanced rendering strategies to meet enterprise scale and performance requirements.
• Optimize Core Web Vitals and application performance, using tools like Vercel Speed Insights to diagnose issues and implement fixes that improve SEO, conversion rates, and user experience.
• Build production AI solutions using Vercel's AI SDK and AI Cloud—including conversational interfaces, production agents, MCP servers, and agentic workflows that transform customer operations.
• Embed with strategic customers to build production applications—working within their systems, understanding their constraints, and shipping TypeScript code that goes live.
• Drive enablement and knowledge transfer through workshops, pair programming, and documentation—ensuring customer teams can extend and maintain solutions independently.
• Navigate complex enterprise environments by building relationships with stakeholders across engineering, product, and executive teams—translating technical capabilities into business outcomes.
• Participate in pre‑sales activities by providing technical expertise during discovery calls, scoping sessions, and proposal development for migrations, audits, and AI transformation engagements.
• Contribute to our service evolution by identifying repeatable patterns, building reusable components, and sharing implementation insights back to Product and Engineering teams.

About you:

• 5+ years of experience in software engineering with at least 2 years in a customer‑facing technical role (consulting, solutions engineering, forward deployed engineering, or technical founder experience).
• Expert‑level TypeScript skills — this is your primary language. You write production TypeScript daily and have strong opinions on type safety, patterns, and tooling.
• Deep expertise in Next.js, with a proven track record of architecting and delivering complex applications using App Router, Server Components, server‑side rendering (SSR), static generation (SSG), incremental static regeneration (ISR), and edge functions.
• Demonstrated experience leading frontend migrations — you’ve modernized legacy applications to Next.js, navigated incremental adoption strategies, and understand the challenges of migrating large …