Forward Deployed Engineer

United States Digital Space LLC; Austin, San Francisco (TX, CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

United States Digital Space LLC is seeking a Forward-Deployed Engineer to join our Professional Services team, where you'll embed with enterprise customers to drive frontend modernization and AI adoption.

This role involves leading complex migrations to Next.js, conducting assessments, and building production solutions. Applicants should have 5+ years in software engineering, expert TypeScript skills, and deep Next.js expertise. This position is remote-first with significant travel (25-40%) for engagements.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 2 years in customer-facing roles.
• Expert-level TypeScript skills with strong opinions on tooling.
• Deep knowledge of Next.js, including App Router, SSR, SSG, and edge functions.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex frontend migrations to Next.js.
• Conduct technical assessments and code audits.
• Architect and implement high-performance Next.js applications.
• Optimize Core Web Vitals using Speed Insights.
• Build production AI solutions using AI SDK.
• Embed with strategic customers to build applications.
• Drive knowledge transfer through workshops and documentation.
• Build relationships with stakeholders for business outcomes.

Skills

TypeScript

Next.js

React

AI applications

Communication

Business acumen

Job description

About the company:

the company is the agentic infrastructure company. We free people and agents to ship what’s next.

For more than a decade, the company has shaped how the web is built. As the team behind Next.js, v0, and AI SDK, we create products that help builders move from idea to production with speed, security, and exceptional developer experience.

Now, software is entering a new era, and the next generation of products will not just be used by people. They will be built, extended, and operated by agents.

We are building the platform for that future, trusted by companies likeOpenAI, PayPal, Ramp, Supreme, and millions of developers worldwide. Whether you’re building our products, supporting our customers, growing our community, or shaping our story, you’ll help define what comes next.

About the role:

We are looking for a Forward-Deployed Engineer to join our Professional Services team. This is not a traditional consulting role—you will embed directly with our most strategic enterprise customers to drive transformational outcomes across frontend modernization, platform migrations, and AI adoption.

In this role, you will lead complex Next.js migrations, architect high-performance applications, and build production AI solutions—all within customer environments. You'll work hands‑on‑keyboard alongside customer teams, whether you're migrating a legacy React application to App Router, conducting a deep‑dive code audit, or deploying production agents using the company's AI SDK. You will be equally comfortable leading a technical discovery session with engineering leadership as you are refactoring a complex rendering strategy or optimizing an agentic workflow.

Our Forward‑Deployed Engineer operate with high agency and autonomy. You'll navigate ambiguous enterprise environments, assess technical debt, design migration strategies, and deliver measurable business value—all while building long‑term relationships that expand our partnership with each customer.

You will report to the Director of Professional Services and will be remote‑first with significant travel (25‑40%) to customer sites for embedded engagements.

What you will do:

1. Lead complex frontend migrations—modernizing legacy React, Vue, or other frameworks to Next.js, including Pages to App Router transitions, incremental adoption strategies, and large‑scale codebase transformations.
2. Conduct technical assessments and code audits, analyzing customer codebases for performance bottlenecks, architectural anti‑patterns, and optimization opportunities—delivering actionable roadmaps that drive measurable improvements.
3. Architect and implement high‑performance Next.js applications, leveraging App Router, Server Components, streaming, ISR, edge functions, and advanced rendering strategies to meet enterprise scale and performance requirements.
4. Optimize Core Web Vitals and application performance, using tools like the company Speed Insights to diagnose issues and implement fixes that improve SEO, conversion rates, and user experience.
5. Build production AI solutionsusing the company's AI SDK and AI Cloud—including conversational interfaces, production agents, MCP servers, and agentic workflows that transform customer operations.
6. Embed with strategic customersto build production applications—working within their systems, understanding their constraints, and shipping TypeScript code that goes live.
7. Drive enablement and knowledge transferthrough workshops, pair programming, and documentation—ensuring customer teams can extend and maintain solutions independently.
8. Navigate complex enterprise environmentsby building relationships with stakeholders across engineering, product, and executive teams—translating technical capabilities into business outcomes.
9. Participate in pre‑sales activitiesby providing technical expertise during discovery calls, scoping sessions, and proposal development for migrations, audits, and AI transformation engagements.
10. Contribute to our service evolutionby identifying repeatable patterns, building reusable components, and sharing implementation insights back to Product and Engineering teams.

About you:

• 5+ years of experiencein software engineering with at least 2 years in a customer‑facing technical role (consulting, solutions engineering, forward deployed engineering, or technical founder experience).
• Expert‑level TypeScript skills—this is your primary language. You write production TypeScript daily and have strong opinions on type safety, patterns, and tooling.
• Deep expertise in Next.js, with a proven track record of architecting and delivering complex applications using App Router, Server Components, server‑side rendering (SSR), static generation (SSG), incremental static regeneration (ISR), and edge functions.
• Demonstrated experience leading frontend migrations—you've modernized legacy applications to Next.js, navigated incremental adoption strategies, and understand the challenges of migrating large codebases in production environments.
• Mastery of Reactand its ecosystem, including advanced state management, performance optimization, and modern patterns like streaming, suspense, and concurrent features.
• Production experience with LLMs and AI applications, including prompt engineering, agent development, and tool use patterns. Familiarity with the company's AI SDK is strongly preferred.
• High agency with comfort in ambiguity—you thrive when given a problem to solve rather than a task to complete, and you can navigate complex organizations to drive outcomes.
• Exceptional communication skillswith the ability to conduct technical discovery, present to executives, mentor engineers, and build lasting customer relationships—all with a low‑ego, collaborative approach.
• Business acumento understand customer objectives, translate technical capabilities into ROI, and identify expansion opportunities throughout engagement lifecycles.
• Willingness to travel 25‑40%to customer sites for embedded work and relationship building.

Bonus if you:

• Have led large‑scale migrations from legacy frameworks (Create React App, Gatsby, custom webpack setups) to Next.js in enterprise environments.
• Have expertise in performance optimization and Core Web Vitals, with experience diagnosing and fixing LCP, CLS, and INP issues at scale.
• Have experience with Model Context Protocol (MCP), building MCP servers, or implementing complex tool‑use patterns in production AI applications.