AI Native Forward Deployed Engineer

Tread; United States; Remote; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A technology firm in construction logistics seeks a Forward Deployed Engineer to serve as the technical bridge between customers and products. This role involves leading technical implementations for new customers, turning field observations into shipped features, and developing self-serve tools. Successful candidates will have 2+ years in software engineering and experience with APIs and customer interactions. You will regularly travel to customer sites and directly impact the customer experience.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of software engineering experience.
• Comfort with APIs, databases, and data pipelines.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical implementation for customers.
• Turn customer pain points into shipped features.
• Build self-serve tools and content for customers.

Skills

Software engineering

APIs knowledge

Customer-facing instincts

Technical delivery

Communication skills

Analytical mindset

Builder mentality

Tools

Ruby/Rails

JavaScript/React

Python

GraphQL

Job description

About Tread

Tread is an AI-native vertical SaaS platform transforming construction materials logistics—a massive, essential industry that moves the aggregate, asphalt, and concrete behind every road, bridge, and building. In March 2026, we crossed $1Bn in monthly delivered load value on the platform, and we’re at ~$XM ARR and growing fast.

Our AI-powered platform serves Haulers, Producers, and Contractors—optimizing truck routing, loaded-mile delivery, and project planning while delivering exceptional customer service through personalized AI agents.

We’re a Series A company backed by Mucker Capital, and we’re building the team that will take us from $XM to $XXM+ ARR.

Why This Role Exists

Tread's customers are construction companies, materials producers, and hauling fleets. Their operations are complex, messy, and high-stakes. Dispatchers are moving hundreds of trucks a day. Scale operators are weighing thousands of loads. Back-office teams are reconciling millions of dollars in freight.

We can't build the right product from a desk. This role exists to close the gap between our customers and our codebase. You'll be in the field learning how these operations actually work, then back at your machine shipping solutions the same day. The feedback loop is measured in hours, not sprints.

Today, technical implementation and field-driven product development is run by the founding team and a small engineering group. To scale from $XM to $XXM+ ARR, we need Forward Deployed Engineers who can live at the intersection of customer operations and our codebase—turning what they see in the field into shipped software before the next site visit.

What You Own

You are the technical bridge between our customers and our product. You'll own the end-to-end technical relationship for your accounts, from first integration through long-term expansion, across four core areas:

Customer Implementation & Technical Delivery Lead technical implementation for new customers: API integrations, data mapping, workflow configuration, and scale house connectivity. Build custom integrations, data pipelines, and automation for customers with complex requirements. Debug and resolve technical issues in the field, often on the same day they surface. Own the technical relationship with assigned accounts—you are their go-to when something is broken or needs to be built.

Product Development from the Field Turn customer pain points into shipped features. You have the context and the ability to build. Contribute directly to Tread's codebase (Rails API, GraphQL, React) based on what you learn in the field. Prototype and validate solutions with customers before they become full product investments. Feed structured, prioritized insights to Product and Engineering. Our model: 45 minutes with the customer, 45 minutes building.

Scaled Enablement & Documentation Build technical onboarding materials, API documentation, and integration guides for customers. Develop self-serve tools and content that reduce the need for hands-on support as we scale. Plan and facilitate QBRs with strategic accounts. Bring data. Bring insights. Bring the roadmap.

Expansion & Retention Through Technical Depth Identify what makes Tread sticky and execute relentlessly to deliver that value. Expand revenue with existing customers by uncovering problems and solving them before they're asked. Help turn our data moat into self-reinforcing product loops that get smarter the longer a customer is on the platform. Own the technical health of your portfolio.

What Success Looks Like

First 90 Days

• Visited at least 3 customer sites. You can describe their dispatch workflow, scale house operations, and back-office processes from memory.

• Shipped at least 2 customer-facing improvements based on direct field observations.

• Taken ownership of the technical implementation for at least 1 new customer.

• Built relationships with key users at your assigned accounts. They know your name and they call you directly.

• Established a baseline view of open technical debt and integration gaps across your portfolio.

First 6 Months

• Embedded with customers. Learning the codebase while in the field. Shipping fast alongside a team of under 20 people where your impact is immediate and visible.

• Established a repeatable pattern: customer meeting to shipped outcome in under a week.

• Contributed meaningfully to at least 1 product initiative that originated from your field work.

• Technical training content and integration guides shipped and in use by customers.

• At least 1 expansion opportunity identified and influenced by your work.

• Time-to-first-value for new implementations trending down measurably.

First Year

• Customers in your portfolio have measurably higher adoption and satisfaction than baseline.

• You've become the connective tissue between what customers need and what we build.

• Multiple product features in production trace back to your field insights.

• You've helped define the FDE playbook that the next hire will use.

• You are the person customers call when something is broken, and the person Engineering trusts to represent the field in any roadmap conversation.

What We’re Looking For

• 2+ years of software engineering experience. You can write production code in at least one of: Ruby/Rails, JavaScript/React, Python, or equivalent.

• Comfort with APIs, databases, and data pipelines. You can read a GraphQL schema, debug an integration, and write a migration.

• Customer-facing instincts. You can sit in a room with a VP of Operations at a trucking company and earn their trust.

• Bias toward action. You see a problem, you fix it. You don't wait for a ticket.

• Strong written and verbal communication. You can translate a messy customer conversation into a clear problem statement and a proposed solution.

• Willingness to travel. You'll be on-site with customers regularly, especially early on.

• High ownership, low ego. You'll do support tickets, write docs, build features, and present at QBRs. Whatever the customer needs.

• Analytical mindset. You instrument what you ship, track adoption, and use data to decide what to build next.

• Builder mentality. You'll personally debug a scale house integration in the morning and prototype a new dispatcher workflow in the afternoon.

Bonus Points

• Experience in construction technology, heavy civil, logistics, supply chain, or field services.

• Familiarity with our stack: Rails, GraphQL, React, Intercom, Linear, PostHog, Omni.

• Experience with AI/ML product development or leveraging LLMs in customer-facing workflows (AI-assisted integrations, automated onboarding, intelligent ticket deflection).

• You've worked at a Series A–C company with under 50 people and thrived in the ambiguity.

• Experience with e-ticketing, scale house systems, ERP integrations, or DOT compliance.

• You've shipped a feature that originated from a single customer conversation and watched it scale across an entire book of business.