EA- Forward Deployed Engineer - NGP VAN

OpenTalent; United States; Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 145,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenTalent is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer to embed with campaigns, nonprofits, and partners, driving adoption of agentic AI into operations. You will bridge NGP VAN platforms with real-world workflows, design and deploy agentic skills, and contribute to the API and MCP integration efforts for scalable client impact.

You will work directly with client organizations, leading discovery sessions, crafting roadmaps, and delivering end-to-end skill implementations in a fast-paced political

Responsibilities

• Embed on-site or remotely with client organizations to understand workflows and identify high-value opportunities for agentic AI automation.
• Lead workflow discovery sessions with client stakeholders to map processes and co-develop a prioritized roadmap of agentifiable workflows.
• Design and build agentic skills atop NGP VAN and the NGP VAN Interface, translating client requirements into reliable skill implementations.
• Manage the full skill delivery lifecycle from requirements gathering through design, build, testing, deployment, and iteration as a one-person team for each engagement.
• Serve as a trusted technical advisor to client staff and leadership, communicating AI concepts accessibly and guiding change management.
• Contribute features and enhancements to the NGP VAN Interface and MCP-based integration layer to expand capabilities for agentic skills.
• Expand the NGP VAN API by identifying gaps and supporting API expansion efforts for new use cases.
• Document skill designs, deployment patterns, and reusable components to build a shared library for future engagements

Job description

US Based Salary: $130,000 - $145,000 DOE

About the Role

Job Summary

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will embed directly with organizations across the Democratic and Progressive ecosystem — including political campaigns, state and national parties, nonprofits, consulting agencies, and independent software vendors — to catalyze the adoption of agentic AI into their operations. You will serve as the bridge between NGP VAN ’s platforms and the real-world workflows of these organizations, identifying where AI can create the greatest benefit, designing and building agentic skills that solve those problems, and deploying them. You will also contribute to the growth of NGP VAN Interface MCP solution and the underlying NGP VAN API, ensuring the platform can support an ever-expanding list of agentic use cases. This is a client-facing technical role that demands a combination of strong engineering instincts, genuine political and civic ecosystem fluency, and the interpersonal skills to earn trust with campaigns and organizers who may be encountering AI for the first time.

Essential Functions

• Embed on-site or remotely with client organizations (campaigns, parties, nonprofits, ISVs, consulting firms) to understand their existing workflows and identify high-value opportunities for agentic AI automation.
• Lead workflow discovery sessions with client stakeholders to map processes, surface pain points, and co-develop a prioritized roadmap of agentifiable workflows.
• Design and build agentic skills atop NGP VAN and the NGP VAN Interface, translating client workflow requirements into reliable, maintainable skill implementations that integrate with the broader Claude/AI agent ecosystem.
• Manage the full skill delivery lifecycle from requirements gathering through design, build, testing, deployment, and iteration — functioning as a one-person product and engineering team for each client engagement.
• Serve as a trusted technical advisor to client staff and leadership, communicating AI concepts accessibly, setting realistic expectations, and shepherding stakeholders through change management as they adopt new agentic tooling.
• Contribute features and enhancements to the NGP VAN Interface, NGP VAN ’s MCP-based integration layer — to expand the set of NGP VAN capabilities available to agentic skill builders across the ecosystem.
• Expand the NGP VAN API identifying gaps in API coverage exposed through client deployments and contributing to API expansion efforts that unlock new categories of agentic use cases.
• Document skill designs, deployment patterns, and reusable components to build a shared library that accelerates future engagements and enables the broader NGP VAN engineering team to support clients at scale.