Customer Architect (Forward Deployed Engineer)

harnessinc; United States; Remote; USD 160,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Performance-based compensation

Equity

Remote-style engagement

Job summary

Harness Inc. is seeking a forward deployed engineer to embed deep technical expertise within customer environments and accelerate adoption of Harness's integrated software delivery platform across CI/CD, cloud cost management, feature flags, and security modules.

You will blend hands-on solution building with strategic advisory work, helping enterprise customers move from fragmented tooling to a unified platform approach, delivering measurable outcomes in deployment velocity, reliability, cost

Qualifications

• 7+ years in software engineering or technical consulting.
• Background in deeply technical, customer-facing roles such as forward deployed, consulting, or professional services.
• Proven success leading complex implementations with measurable outcomes.
• Working knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and IaC tools (Terraform, CloudFormation).
• Hands-on with containers/orchestration (Kubernetes, Helm, Kustomize, OpenShift) and CI/CD systems (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI).
• Strong communication to influence engineers and senior stakeholders.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity in fast-paced settings.

Responsibilities

• Embed with customer teams to design and optimize CI/CD, infra, and DevSecOps workflows.
• Lead onboarding, implementation, and enablement programs across modules.
• Architect solutions spanning pipelines, infrastructure, security, and cloud cost management.
• Analyze usage data to surface gaps, deliver actionable recommendations, and mitigate adoption risks.
• Advise engineering and platform leadership through technical reviews aligned to outcomes.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, sales, and customer success to relay feedback and influence roadmap.

Skills

Cloud platforms

CI/CD experience

DevSecOps

Solution architecture

Customer-facing

Python/Bash/YAML

Go programming

Tools

Terraform

CloudFormation

Kubernetes

Helm

Kustomize

OpenShift

Jenkins

GitHub Actions

GitLab CI

Python

Bash

YAML

Job description

Role overview

This role embeds technical expertise directly within customer engineering environments to accelerate adoption of an integrated software delivery platform spanning CI/CD, cloud cost management, feature flags, and security modules. Operating as a forward deployed engineer, the position combines hands-on solution building with strategic advisory work, helping enterprise customers move from fragmented tooling to a unified platform approach. The focus is on delivering measurable outcomes around deployment velocity, reliability, cost optimization, and security governance.

Responsibilities

• Embed with customer engineering and platform teams to design, implement, and optimize CI/CD, infrastructure, and DevSecOps workflows tailored to their architectures


• Lead onboarding, implementation, and enablement programs that accelerate time-to-value across multiple platform modules


• Architect solutions spanning pipelines, infrastructure, security, and cloud cost management to drive platform-centric adoption rather than point solutions


• Analyze usage and pipeline data to surface gaps, deliver actionable recommendations, and proactively mitigate adoption or retention risks


• Serve as a trusted advisor to engineering and platform leadership through technical and business reviews aligned to defined business and technical outcomes


• Partner with internal product, engineering, sales, and customer success teams to relay customer feedback, shape expansion strategy, and influence roadmap

Requirements

• 7+ years of experience in software engineering, solutions architecture, DevOps, or technical consulting roles


• Background in deeply technical, customer-facing positions such as forward deployed, consulting, or professional services


• Demonstrated success leading complex implementations and driving measurable customer outcomes


• Working knowledge across multiple areas including cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform, CloudFormation), containers and orchestration (Kubernetes, Helm, Kustomize, OpenShift), CI/CD systems (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI), and scripting languages such as Python, Bash, and YAML


• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence both engineers and senior stakeholders


• Comfort operating across several technical domains and navigating ambiguity in fast-paced settings


• Hands-on builder mindset with strong problem-solving skills and a commitment to continuous learning

Nice to have

• Familiarity with secure pipeline design, policy enforcement, and DevSecOps practices


• Understanding of SAST, DAST, SCA, or software supply chain security concepts


• Experience integrating security into CI/CD workflows


• Proficiency with the Go programming language

Benefits and work setup

• Base salary range of $160,000 to $180,000 USD annually, determined by location, level, relevant experience, and skills


• Compensation package includes a performance-based commission or variable component, equity, and benefits


• U.S. West Coast focus; remote-style engagement embedded within customer environments


• Candidates typically interviewed via video conference