Forward Deployed Engineer

HartleyCo; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

HartleyCo, a YC-backed startup in San Francisco, is building AI systems deployed into real-world enterprise workflows. We’re seeking a highly technical engineer who operates close to business, product, and customer problems rather than in a siloed function.

You’ll build AI agents, write production code, design infrastructure, and deploy systems into customer environments while working directly with enterprise stakeholders to solve operational problems and shape the product's technical direction.

Responsibilities

• Build AI agents and production-grade code.
• Design and deploy scalable infrastructure.
• Work directly with enterprise stakeholders to solve operational problems.
• Shape both product and technical direction early.

Skills

Backend engineering

LLMs

API design

TypeScript

Python

Tools

AWS/GCP

Docker

CI/CD

Job description

I’m working with a YC startup building AI systems that are being deployed directly into real-world enterprise workflows.

They’ve recently raised their Seed round, signed initial customers, and are now looking for a highly technical engineer who wants to operate closer to the business, product, and customer problems rather than sitting in a siloed engineering function.

This is not a traditional solutions engineer role.

You’ll be:

• building AI agents
• writing production code
• designing infrastructure
• deploying systems into customer environments
• working directly with enterprise stakeholders to solve operational problems

The founders are specifically looking for engineers who can both:

• build at a high technical level
• communicate clearly with customers

The backgrounds they tend to like:

• early engineers at AI startups
• strong backend or product engineers from high-calibre engineering companies
• engineers already building with LLMs, agents, or AI-native tooling

What makes the role interesting:

• Very early-stage with real traction already
• Small, high-agency team
• Real ownership from day one
• Fast-moving environment with very little bureaucracy
• Opportunity to shape both product and technical direction early
• Python
• Node.js / TypeScript
• APIs + integrations
• AI agents / LLM systems
• cloud infrastructure

You’ll likely enjoy this if:

• you want your work close to customers/users
• you prefer ownership over process
• you’re excited by agentic AI systems rather than traditional SaaS