Forward Deployed Engineer

Vooma; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation with equity

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

In-person collaboration in San Fransc

Job summary

Vooma is building the AI orchestration platform for America's trucking industry. We seek a Forward Deployed Engineer to bridge cutting-edge AI agent tech with real-world systems, designing custom integrations for enterprise customers.

You’ll work across data flows, models, and APIs to deploy scalable solutions with a customer-facing focus and immediate impact on billion-dollar logistics operations.

Qualifications

• Full-stack mindset with backend and frontend fluency.
• Integration experience across REST/GraphQL, webhooks and auth schemes.
• LLM/agent experience with prompt engineering and evaluation metrics.
• Customer empathy and strong communication across roles.
• Rapid prototyping with bias for action and refactor.
• Structured problem-solving of complex logistics processes.
• Ownership mentality and willingness to unblock blockers.
• Thrives in ambiguity in a fast-paced startup.

Responsibilities

• Run discovery sessions with freight brokers, carriers, and 3PL IT teams to nail down pain points, data sources, and success metrics.
• Design end-to-end solutions - map data flows, select the right models, and create integration architectures that survive contact with legacy TMS/ERP systems.
• Build & ship rapidly - write clean code (Python/TypeScript), stand up APIs, webhooks, and ETL pipelines that seamlessly connect Vooma agents to customer systems.
• Iterate fast - release small, validate in production, tighten feedback loops, and eliminate ineffective features early.
• Own testing and rollout - craft comprehensive test suites, run UAT with operations teams, squash edge-case bugs, and drive go-live success.
• Coach customers - document workflows, train users, and create playbooks that ensure solutions stick after handoff.
• Project-manage engagements - set realistic timelines, surface risks early, coordinate cross-functional stakeholders, and keep executives informed.
• Act as technical first responder during the critical first 90 days in production - triage issues, patch integrations, and optimize models based on real traffic.

Skills

Full-stack mindset

Integration

LLM/agent experience

Customer empathy

Rapid prototyping

Structured problem-solving

Ownership mindset

Ambiguity resilience

Travel willingness

Tools

REST

GraphQL

Webhooks

Message queues

OAuth2

SAML

Job description

About Vooma

Enterprise software is in the midst of a revolution. The world is shifting from "systems of record" to "systems of automation" - LLM powered agents and orchestrators that perform complex business tasks on behalf of and in concert with humans, with increasing levels of autonomy.

About Vooma

Enterprise software is in the midst of a revolution. The world is shifting from "systems of record" to "systems of automation" - LLM powered agents and orchestrators that perform complex business tasks on behalf of and in concert with humans, with increasing levels of autonomy.
Vooma's mission is to build the AI orchestration platform for America's $800+ BN trucking industry. Everything we touch in the physical world is moved on a truck - it's the backbone of the US economy. Yet logistics today is still extremely manual, which makes it one of the hungriest industries for the shift toward AI Agents.
At Vooma, the products you'll build will help freight brokers and trucking companies win more business and seamlessly execute freight. Our AI agents operate across voice, email and text to automate critical workflows across the load lifecycle.
Vooma is backed by top-tier investors including Index Ventures, Craft Ventures, Y-Combinator, and CEOs, founders and executives from the logistics industry.

About The Role

Your role, should you choose to join us, will be a Forward Deployed Engineer on our founding team.
This is where the rubber meets the road. You'll be the bridge between our cutting-edge AI agent technology and the real-world systems that power America's freight industry. You'll work directly with enterprise customers to design, build, and deploy custom integrations that bring our AI agents to life in their day-to-day operations.
You're a good fit if you're the type of person that is known by your peers to move mountains and make progress, no matter the circumstances. You thrive on customer interaction, love solving complex technical puzzles, and get energized by seeing your code make an immediate impact on billion-dollar businesses.

Your Responsibilities Will Include

• Run discovery sessions with freight brokers, carriers, and 3PL IT teams to nail down pain points, data sources, and success metrics
• Design end-to-end solutions - map data flows, select the right models, and create integration architectures that survive contact with legacy TMS/ERP systems
• Build & ship rapidly - write clean code (Python/TypeScript), stand up APIs, webhooks, and ETL pipelines that seamlessly connect Vooma agents to customer systems
• Iterate fast - release small, validate in production, tighten feedback loops, and eliminate ineffective features early
• Own testing and rollout - craft comprehensive test suites, run UAT with operations teams, squash edge-case bugs, and drive go-live success
• Coach customers - document workflows, train users, and create playbooks that ensure solutions stick after handoff
• Project-manage engagements - set realistic timelines, surface risks early, coordinate cross-functional stakeholders, and keep executives informed
• Act as technical first responder during the critical first 90 days in production - triage issues, patch integrations, and optimize models based on real traffic

Must Haves

• Full-stack builder mindset - comfortable moving between backend APIs and frontend interfaces
• Integration expertise - fluent in REST/GraphQL, webhooks, message queues, and authentication schemes (OAuth2, SAML, etc.)
• LLM/agent experience - hands-on with prompt engineering, vector search, and evaluation metrics; can translate business logic into agent workflows
• Customer empathy + communication skills - can seamlessly switch between C-suite strategy discussions and ops-floor technical details
• Rapid prototyping habit - bias for action, willing to hack, test, and refactor under tight deadlines
• Structured problem-solving - break complex logistics processes into modular components, spot edge cases early, and make data-driven decisions
• Ownership mentality - when you see blockers, you unblock them; no "not my job" mindset
• Thrives in ambiguity - comfortable with evolving specs, shifting requirements, and fast-paced startup environment
• Travel flexibility - willing to spend up to 25% of time on-site to de-risk deployments and build customer relationships

Nice-to-haves

• Experience in logistics, supply chain, or transportation technology
• Familiarity with telephony APIs (Twilio, etc.)
• Data science background for model fine-tuning and optimization
• Previous experience in customer-facing technical roles

Why You'll Love Working Here

• Rare opportunity to join a formidable team building an enduring company
• Direct impact - your code will immediately transform how billion-dollar logistics companies operate
• Cutting-edge technology - work with the latest in agentic AI using modern stacks (Next.js, GraphQL, Node, OpenAI, Anthropic)
• Competitive compensation with significant equity upside potential
• Comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, and vision coverage
• In-person collaboration in San Francisco with a talented, experienced founding team
• Customer-centric culture - work directly with enterprise customers and see the immediate impact of your solutions

This role is based in person in San Francisco, CA. We are also interested in candidates based in strategic US freight hubs (Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta).