Forward Deployment Engineer

Novamind Labs; Auckland; On-site; NZD 110,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Impactful role

Direct influence on product roadmap

Exposure to enterprise AI challenges

New Zealand startup environment

Job summary

Novamind Labs is seeking Forward Deployment Engineers to embed with enterprise clients, shaping AI solutions on the Novie platform. You will translate business needs into technical specs, build workflows, and ensure governance across client deployments.

You’ll partner with the founding team to convert field learnings into reusable product blueprints and contribute to the Novie roadmap while delivering real value for clients.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of software engineering experience with hands-on coding
• Experience translating business problems into technical solutions
• Experience integrating with APIs, data systems, and enterprise software
• Excellent communication skills for technical deep-dives and executive discussions in one day
• Self-directed and ownership-driven with comfort in ambiguity
• Willingness to travel regionally for client engagements as required
• Strong written and verbal communication in English

Responsibilities

• Embed directly with enterprise clients to understand business goals and constraints
• Translate ambiguous business problems into clear, structured technical requirements
• Map client workflows, data sources, compliance needs, and governance requirements
• Design and build AI solutions, agents, and workflows on the Novie platform for client use cases
• Configure governance controls, approval chains, and human-in-the-loop checkpoints
• Integrate Novie with client systems and data sources; own delivery from design to production
• Turn client-specific solutions into reusable blueprints and reference architectures
• Feed real-world insights back to product and engineering teams
• Help build the library of NAIS-compliant agents and patterns that power the Novie ecosystem
• Be a trusted technical advisor to client stakeholders and ensure measurable value

Skills

Software engineering

Customer engagement

API integration

English communication

Autonomy

Travel willingness

Job description

Novamind Labs is an enterprise AI governance company building the infrastructure that makes AI safe, auditable, and accountable for business. Our flagship platform, Novie, helps enterprises transform uncontrolled "Shadow AI" into structured, compliant, production-ready AI capability.

We are executing a high-touch go-to-market strategy: our team embeds directly with enterprise clients to solve their hardest AI problems and turn that work into reusable platform capability. The Forward Deployment Engineer is at the very heart of this strategy.

As we continue to grow our team and expand the Novie platform, we’re excited to connect with engineers and builders who are passionate about enterprise AI, agent systems, and solving real-world business problems.

The Role

Forward Deployment Engineers (FDEs) are our most client‑facing engineers. You will embed directly with enterprise customers, understand their business and technical reality deeply, and build real, working AI solutions on top of the Novie platform that solve their most pressing problems.

This is not a traditional support or implementation role. You are a builder and a problem‑solver who sits at the intersection of engineering, product, and customer strategy. One day you might be mapping a client’s compliance requirements with their legal team; the next you are writing code to configure agents, building custom workflows, or designing a governance architecture that fits their organisation.

Critically, your work does not stay siloed with one client. A core part of your mission is toconvert what you learn and build in the field into reusable blueprints, templates, and product capabilitythat benefits every Novie customer. You are both delivering value today and shaping the product of tomorrow.

You will work closely with the founding team and have direct influence over both customer outcomes and the Novie product roadmap.

What You’ll Do

• Embed directly with enterprise clients to understand their business goals, technical environment, and operational constraints
• Translate ambiguous business problems into clear, structured technical requirements
• Map client workflows, data sources, compliance needs, and governance requirements

Build & Deploy

• Design and build working AI solutions, agents, and workflows on the Novie platform for client use cases
• Configure governance controls, approval chains, and human‑in‑the‑loop checkpoints to fit each client’s needs
• Integrate Novie with client systems, data sources, and existing infrastructure
• Own the technical delivery from design through to production deployment

Convert Field Work to Product

• Turn client‑specific solutions into reusable blueprints, templates, and reference architectures
• Feed real‑world insights and requirements back to the product and engineering teams
• Help build the library of NAIS‑compliant agents and patterns that power the Novie ecosystem

Drive Customer Success

• Be a trusted technical advisor to client stakeholders, from developers to CIOs
• Ensure clients achieve real, measurable value from Novie
• Support the commercial team with technical expertise during the engagement lifecycle

What We’re Looking For

Core Requirements

• 3+ years of software engineering experience, with strong hands‑on coding ability
• Proven ability to work directly with customers and translate business problems into technical solutions
• Experience integrating with APIs, data systems, and enterprise software
• Excellent communication skills — you can hold a technical deep‑dive with engineers and a strategic conversation with executives in the same day
• A self‑directed, ownership‑driven approach: you thrive with autonomy and ambiguity
• Willingness to travel regionally for client engagements as required
• Strong written and verbal communication in English

Strong Advantage

• Experience with AI/ML systems, LLMs, agent frameworks, or AI orchestration
• Background in solutions engineering, professional services, consulting, or other client‑facing technical roles
• Experience with enterprise integration, cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP), and data pipelines
• Familiarity with enterprise governance, security, or compliance contexts
• Bilingual in English and Mandarin/Cantonese, given our Greater China and Asia‑Pacific client base
• Experience at an early‑stage startup or in a 0‑to‑1 product environment

Mindset

• A pragmatic builder who is energized by solving real customer problems with working code
• Comfortable being the bridge between the customer and the product
• Genuinely curious about clients’ businesses, not just the technology
• Able to balance bespoke client needs with the discipline of building reusable, scalable solutions

What We Offer

• One of the most impactful and visible roles in the company, working directly with our founding team and our most important customers
• Direct influence over both customer outcomes and the Novie product roadmap
• Exposure to a wide range of industries and enterprise AI challenges
• A front‑row seat to building one of New Zealand’s most ambitious enterprise AI companies

Novamind Labs is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.