Forward Deployed AI Engineer

Tenex.Ai; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Tenex.Ai is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer who embeds within customer accounts to understand their security environment and build tailored AI-driven solutions. You will work across data, AI, and security to ship impactful tooling beyond a single customer’s environment.

You will collaborate with AI & Data Science, maintain strong stakeholder relationships, and drive multiple engagements with a bias toward action in a fast-growing cybersecurity startup.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in software engineering, security engineering, or a technical customer-facing role.
• Strong programming skills in Python and/or Go/TypeScript.
• Experience working directly with customers to solve complex technical problems.
• Familiarity with AI/ML tooling, data pipelines, or data engineering concepts.
• Knowledge of security operations, SIEM/SOAR, cloud security, or endpoint security.

Responsibilities

• Embed directly within assigned customer accounts to understand their environment, workflows, and security challenges.
• Follow the FDE engagement loop: Discover, Ideate, Document, Build, Ship with a bias toward action.
• Build custom solutions including automations, integrations, AI-assisted workflows, data pipelines, and security tooling extensions.
• Collaborate with AI & Data Science to surface cross-customer intelligence needs from engagements.
• Maintain relationships with customer technical stakeholders and manage multiple accounts concurrently.

Skills

Python

Customer-facing

Security engineering

Software engineering

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Job description

Company Overview:

TENEX is an AI-native, automation-first, built-for-scale Managed Detection and Response (MDR) provider. We are a force multiplier for defenders, helping organizations enhance their cybersecurity posture through advanced threat detection, rapid response, and continuous protection. Our team is composed of industry experts with deep experience in cybersecurity, automation and AI-driven solutions. Backed by leading investors, we are rapidly growing and seeking top talent to join our mission of revolutionizing the AI-Native MDR landscape.

We’re a fast growing startup backed by industry experts and top tier investors led by Crosspoint Capital Partners and also backed by Shield Capital, DTCP (formerly Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners), Deepwork Capital, and the Florida Opportunity Fund. Seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). As an early employee, you’ll play a meaningful role in defining and building our culture. Get in on the ground floor. We’re a small but well-funded team that just raised a substantial round – joining now comes with limited risk and unlimited upside.

Culture is one of the most important things at TENEX.AI—explore our culture deck at culture.tenex.ai to witness how we embody it, prioritizing the irreplaceable collaboration and community of in-person work.

About the Role

As a Forward Deployed Engineer at TENEX, you are a customer-embedded problem solver. You live inside strategic customer accounts, discover what is broken or missing, and build solutions — combining AI, data, and security expertise to ship things that matter. Your work doesn't stay in one customer's environment; it feeds back into what TENEX builds for everyone.

Job Responsibilities

• Embed directly within assigned customer accounts to deeply understand their environment, workflows, and security challenges
• Follow the FDE engagement loop: Discover, Ideate, Document, Build, Ship — moving from problem identification to working solution with a bias toward action
• Build custom solutions tailored to customer needs — including automations, integrations, AI-assisted workflows, data pipelines, and security tooling extensions
• Apply combined expertise across AI, data, and security to solve problems that off-the-shelf tools cannot address
• Document solutions thoroughly so they can be reviewed, refined, and offered to other customers across the platform
• Continuously identify and surface new problem areas, data opportunities, and intelligence gaps encountered during customer engagements — feeding these discoveries into the AI & DS function for evaluation and development
• Collaborate closely with the AI & Data Science function — surfacing cross-customer intelligence needs directly from customer engagements
• Maintain a strong working relationship with customer technical stakeholders throughout the engagement
• Manage multiple active customer accounts concurrently, maintaining deep focus and high-quality output across each engagement
• Escalate blockers or account risks to the Director or Staff-level engineers when appropriate

Required Skills & Qualification

Technical & Industry Expertise

• 3+ years in software engineering, security engineering, or a technical customer-facing role
• Strong programming skills in Python and/or another general-purpose language (Go, TypeScript, etc.)
• Experience working directly with customers to solve complex technical problems
• Familiarity with AI/ML tooling, data pipelines, or data engineering concepts
• Knowledge of security operations, SIEM/SOAR, cloud security, or endpoint security
• Ability to rapidly prototype and ship working solutions in ambiguous, fast-changing environments
• Strong technical documentation skills — you write things down so they can scale

Soft Skills

• Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting skills with a bias toward action
• Excellent customer-facing communication and collaboration abilities
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-performance startup environment
• Passion for cybersecurity, automation, and continuous improvement

Education & Certifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience)
• Relevant certifications such as CISSP, CISM, GIAC certifications, Google Cloud Professional, Microsoft SC-200/AZ-500, or AWS Certified Solutions Architect are a plus

Why Join Us?

• Opportunity to work with cutting-edge AI-driven cybersecurity technologies and next-generation security platforms
• Collaborate with a talented and innovative team focused on continuously improving security operations
• Competitive salary and benefits package
• A culture of growth and development, with opportunities to expand your expertise in AI, cybersecurity, and engineering
• Be part of building something new — TENEX's Forward Deployed Engineering organization is a greenfield opportunity to define how enterprise security is delivered at scale