Forward Deployed Engineer

Enlighten AI Labs; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 135,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental coverage

Vision coverage

Job summary

Enlighten is a software company delivering AI-powered insights for enterprise customers. You will build software alongside customers, owning deployment pieces from investigation to handoff, and work with senior engineers on decisions affecting the broader system.

The role focuses on understanding user needs, data availability, and how solutions will be validated in customer workflows. Candidates should show independence and strong communication while collaborating with delivery teams.

Qualifications

• Shipping production software with measurable impact.
• Proficient in Python or TypeScript, SQL, and APIs.
• Able to learn new data platforms and customer workflows.
• Experience building APIs and data mappings.
• Strong communication with customers and teammates.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with customers and delivery leads to map requirements, data availability, and success criteria.
• Build and test APIs, data mappings, and features that deliver agent-generated insights.
• Run multiple AI agents in parallel to map unfamiliar systems and prototype fixes.
• Diagnose issues across APIs, datasets, and applications; propose fixes.
• Write tests and clear handoff notes; flag risks and scope changes early.
• Make analyses rerunnable with consistent checks and trace failures across data and agent runs.

Skills

Python

TypeScript

SQL

APIs

Automated testing

Tools

React

FastAPI

API design

Job description

At Enlighten, we believe AI should expand what people can take on. We build teams of AI agents alongside Fortune 500 companies so they can put their best thinking to work across the business. We want the people closest to the work to be able to ask hard questions and get answers they can trust. Our mission is to give every team the intelligence it needs to make decisions that shape the business.

About the role

You'll build software alongside customers and see firsthand how they use it. You'll own a piece of the deployment from investigation through handoff, working with senior engineers on decisions that affect the broader system.

What you'll do

• Work with customers and delivery leads to understand what users need to do, what data is available, and how they'll know the solution works.
• Build and test the APIs, data mappings, and application features that deliver agent-generated insights into existing customer workflows.
• Run multiple AI agents in parallel every day to map unfamiliar systems and prototype fixes. Build custom apps for data checks, troubleshooting, or repeatable customer tasks, and verify the results before handing them off.
• Reproduce and diagnose issues across APIs, datasets, and applications. Share what you've verified and propose a fix.
• Write meaningful tests and clear handoff notes. Flag scope changes, access needs, and production risks early, and share fixes other deployments can reuse.
• Implement regression checks using the analysts’ expected results. Make saved analyses rerunnable with the same checks, and trace failures across source data, agent runs, and the customer-facing output.

What you bring

• Experience shipping working software, with examples of problems you personally investigated and delivered through completion.
• Working proficiency in Python or TypeScript, SQL, APIs, and modern software development practices.
• Comfort learning unfamiliar data platforms, applications, and customer workflows.
• Practical use of multiple AI agents and the ability to build a small custom app or automation with their help.
• The judgment to verify generated code and data outputs, protect customer information, and seek review when a change warrants it.
• Clear written and spoken communication with teammates and customers.
• Initiative, persistence, and a willingness to take ownership of a defined outcome while sharing progress and blockers early.
• Experience with cloud platforms, data warehouses, or customer-facing technical delivery.
• Experience with React, FastAPI, automated testing, or AI workflow orchestration.
• A small app, automation, or open-source contribution you can explain and demonstrate.
• You work independently. You can take an unclear goal, decide what to do first, find what you need, and carry the work through to a result. You bring people in early when a decision, risk, or dependency needs their input.

How we work

AI agents are core to how we get work done. You'll spend a substantial part of your day running multiple agents in parallel, building tools and workflows with them, and checking what they produce. You own the result. Verify the facts, calculations, code, and claims before they go into a decision, a customer conversation, or a release.

When working with clients, take initiative within the agreed goals, scope, access permissions, and review process. Bring options and recommendations, and involve the right people before changing a customer commitment or production workflow.

What success looks like

• You deliver scoped customer workflows that work against the agreed data and acceptance criteria.
• Your code, tests, and documentation make the work straightforward to review and maintain.
• You resolve unfamiliar problems with increasing independence and make good use of senior review.
• Your agents and custom tools remove repetitive work without introducing unchecked outputs.

Eligible employees can enroll in medical, dental, and vision coverage.

The pay range for this role is:

135,000 - 175,000 USD per year (Chicago, IL)