Forward Deployed Engineer

productboard, Inc; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Equity awards

401(k) plan with company match

Budget for online courses

Paid vacation and sick days

Volunteer day

Free snacks and drinks

Company contribution to gym and wellness memberships

Job summary

Productboard, Inc is seeking an experienced Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to join our Go-To-Market team in San Francisco, CA. The FDE will work alongside prospects and customers to solve real problems, driving the product's evolution based on feedback.

Responsibilities include pre-sales technical validation, synthesizing product feedback, and engaging in thought leadership. Ideal candidates will have 4+ years in a relevant role, along with hands-on experience with SaaS integration tools.

We offer competitive compensation, equity awards, a 401(k) plan, and a hybrid work environment.

Qualifications

• 4+ years in Sales Engineering or Forward Deployed Engineering role.
• Hands-on experience with REST APIs and SaaS integrations.
• Exceptional communication skills, translating complexity into clarity.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Account Executives to drive complex deal cycles.
• Deliver presentations and demos connecting capabilities to customer problems.
• Build scalable activation assets and guided setup flows.

Skills

Sales Engineering

Solutions Engineering

REST APIs

SaaS Integration Patterns

Exceptional Communication

Technical Presentations

Tools

Jira

Salesforce

Zendesk

Azure DevOps

Job description

Productboard Spark is an AI‑first agentic experience that turns raw feedback and signals into clear problems, strong specs, and faster execution. The core platform powers product teams at 6,000+ companies, and Spark adds AI‑first capabilities to turn insights into actionable plans.

Opportunity

Productboard is looking for an experienced Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to join our Go‑To‑Market team. As an FDE you will be embedded in the field, working alongside prospects and customers to solve real problems and bring those learnings back to shape the product.

On a Typical Day, You Will…

Pre‑Sales & Technical Validation

• Partner with Account Executives to drive complex, multi‑stakeholder deal cycles – leading deep technical discovery, uncovering pain points, and aligning Productboard’s platform and Spark’s AI‑first capabilities to customer business objectives.
• Deliver high‑impact presentations, demos, and solution briefings that tell Productboard’s differentiated story and connect capabilities directly to the customer’s strategic problems.
• Own all technical aspects of the sales cycle: scoping and running PoCs in live environments, wiring up integrations, responding to RFPs, validating API and architecture fit, and identifying expansion opportunities.

Product Feedback Loop

• Synthesize patterns across prospects and customers into structured, actionable product intelligence.
• Serve as the primary liaison between Sales, Product, and Marketing to share field insights that shape roadmap and positioning.
• Build repeatable PoC frameworks, demo environments, and technical playbooks that scale insights across the FDE team.

Field Marketing & Thought Leadership

• Represent Productboard at industry events, conferences, and roadshows as a credible technical voice.
• Host and lead high‑touch executive dinners, product leader roundtables, and panels globally.
• Develop and deliver thought leadership content with Marketing – talks, live demos, and session formats that showcase the platform and Spark.

Implementation & Activation

• Co‑build solutions with customers to secure technical wins – designing configurations, validating integrations, and proving value in their environment.
• Own activation end‑to‑end: configure integrations with tools such as Jira, Salesforce, Zendesk, Azure DevOps, Slack, and more; design workspace structures; and drive first value.
• Build scalable activation assets – guided setup flows, integration templates, and self‑serve onboarding resources.

About You

• 4+ years in a Sales Engineering, Solutions Engineering, or Forward Deployed Engineering role at a B2B SaaS company.
• Hands‑on experience with REST APIs, webhooks, and SaaS integration patterns.
• Proven ability to drive complex, multi‑stakeholder deal cycles at the technical and executive level.
• Strong understanding of how product, engineering, and customer success teams operate.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills; translate complexity into clarity.
• A product‑mindset perspective – ask “why does this customer need this?” and connect the answer to something bigger.
• A bias for ownership – follow through, take accountability, and don’t wait to be asked.

Bonus

• Familiarity with product management tools (e.g., Productboard, Jira Product Discovery, Aha!) and AI‑assisted workflows.
• Comfort presenting to senior audiences – panels, executive dinners, or conference stages.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation and equity awards.
• 401(k) plan with company match.
• Budget for online courses, books, and conferences.
• Paid vacation and sick days.
• Volunteer day for causes you care about.
• Free snacks, drinks, and catered lunches.
• Company contribution to gym and wellness memberships.
• Hybrid schedule: office days Mon, Tue, Thu; remote flexibility.

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement

Productboard is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to an inclusive hiring process. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any protected characteristic.