AI Engineer (Forward Deployed)

scalr; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

scalr is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer to sit at the intersection of engineering and customer delivery, building production AI systems directly with enterprise clients. You will operate in customer environments, turning ambiguous real-world problems into usable software that customers actually rely on.

Day to day, you will build and deploy LLM-powered and agentic systems, retrieval-augmented apps, and move GenAI features from prototype to reliable production use.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of industry experience.
• Comfortable operating with ambiguity and directly in front of customers.
• Strong Python and/or TypeScript skills in production environments.
• Track record deploying data-heavy or AI-enabled applications.
• Able to communicate clearly across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Open to travel, roughly 20 percent.
• Wants the pace and ownership of a startup environment.

Responsibilities

• Build and deploy LLM-powered and agentic systems in customer environments.
• Own evaluation and reliability to ensure production readiness and maintainability.
• Translate ambiguous real-world problems into working software for enterprise clients.
• Collaborate with clients and internal teams to deliver reliable AI-enabled applications.

Skills

Python

TypeScript

Customer-facing

Production systems

Education

CS degree

Job description

SF/NYC / Travel / $200k-$350k + early stage equity

My client is looking for a Forward Deployed Engineer to sit at the intersection of engineering and customer delivery, building production AI systems directly with enterprise clients. You'll spend your time in customer environments, not just shipping code from behind a product spec, turning ambiguous real-world problems into working software that customers actually use.

Day to day, that means building and deploying LLM-powered and agentic systems, retrieval-augmented applications, and getting GenAI features from prototype into reliable production use. You'll own the evaluation and reliability side too, not just the initial build, so what you ship keeps working after you leave the room.

Strong fit for engineers coming from client-facing, applied-AI or consulting-led backgrounds, particularly those with experience at top-tier strategy or technical consulting firms. A strong CS degree is expected.

What My Client Is Looking For:

• 3+ years of industry experience
• Comfortable operating with ambiguity and directly in front of customers
• Strong Python and/or TypeScript skills in production environments
• Track record deploying data-heavy or AI-enabled applications
• Able to communicate clearly across technical and non-technical audiences
• Open to travel, roughly 20 percent
• Wants the pace and ownership of a startup environment

Nice to Have:

• Prior forward-deployed or customer-facing engineering role
• Hands-on production experience with ML, LLMs, or agentic systems