Forward Deployed Engineer

Trail; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Trail, a Bay Area AI startup, seeks a Forward Deployed Engineer to help enterprise customers build and scale Agentic AI from initial talks to production in Palo Alto. You'll own deployments end-to-end, translate complex customer problems into concrete requirements, and collaborate with Product, Engineering and Solutions teams to deliver platform features.

A startup background is a plus; strong collaboration, adaptability and high-output across multi‑project work are essential.

Qualifications

• 2+ years as a Forward Deployed Engineer or software engineer.
• Startup experience preferred; founder or founding engineer background is a plus.
• Ability to surface customer challenges during onboarding.
• End-to-end ownership mindset — you figure out what you don't know and get it done.

Responsibilities

• Be the technical partner for customers, driving deployments from ideation to production.
• Translate customer problems into clear requirements (PRDs, workflows, success criteria) and build them.
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and Solutions teams to build platform features.

Skills

Forward Deployed Engineer

Software Engineer

Startup Experience

Founding Background

Job description

(Please only apply if in the Bay Area, CA only)

The Role

We're looking for a technically strong, customer-focused Forward Deployed Engineer to help enterprise customers build and scale Agentic AI — from first conversation to production.

What You'll Do

• Be the technical partner for customers, driving deployments from ideation to production.
• Translate customer problems into clear requirements (PRDs, workflows, success criteria) and build them.
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and Solutions teams to build platform features.

What We're Looking For

• 2+ years as a Forward Deployed Engineer or software engineer — startup experience preferred; founder or founding engineer background is a plus.
• Ability to proactively surface customer challenges during onboarding.
• End-to-end ownership mindset — you figure out what you don't know and get it done.
• A humble, collaborative attitude with a high-output, multi-project operating style.

Details

Base salary: $130,000–$160,000, plus equity and benefits.