Forward Deployed Engineer

Blink UX; United States; On-site; USD 110,000 - 138,000; Full time

Job summary

Blink UX is seeking Forward Deployed Engineers for our project-based contractor pool. Projects 1-4 months; opportunities range from full-time to part-time.

You'll bridge content, design, and engineering to deliver AI-enabled content platforms and lead technical solutioning for clients while staying hands-on. You will prototype, integrate with headless CMS/DAM, design AI-enabled workflows, ensure accessibility and performance, and collaborate with client teams (e.g., Mphasis).

Qualifications

• Senior-level, hands-on engineering who still codes.
• Strong front-end fundamentals and React/Next.js experience.
• Experience integrating headless CMS/DAM platforms (Contentful, AEM Headless, Sitecore).
• Practical experience with LLMs, RAG patterns, or AI-driven workflows.
• Ability designing APIs, data contracts, and front-end/state management.
• Experience working directly with clients in a consulting or delivery role.

Responsibilities

• Partner with clients to shape and validate technical solutions for content modernization and GenAI enablement.
• Design and build proof-of-concepts demonstrating feasibility, value, and scalability.
• Implement front-end integrations with headless CMS/DAM platforms.
• Build or wire up GenAI workflows into content creation, assembly, and delivery pipelines.
• Collaborate with client and partner teams on implementation.
• Define guardrails for AI usage including privacy and accessibility.
• Define testing strategies for content models, front-end rendering, and AI outputs.

Skills

Frontend fundamentals

React/Next.js

Headless CMS integration

LLM / RAG workflows

APIs & data contracts

Client-facing delivery

TypeScript

Tools

Contentful

AEM Headless

Sitecore

Job description

Blink UX is looking for Forward Deployed Engineers interested in our project-based contractor pool. Project-based contracts vary in length; projects at Blink usually range from 1-4 months. Most opportunities are full-time, but sometimes part-time needs arise as well. This is a great opportunity to work with a diverse group of clients from various industries.

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will bridge content, design, and engineering to deliver modern, AI-enabled content platforms. Lead technical solutioning for clients while remaining deeply hands-on—building proofs of concept, validating architectures, and operationalizing AI-driven content workflows.

What you'll be doing:

Client-Facing Technical Leadership

• Partner with clients to shape and validate technical solutions for content modernization and GenAI enablement.

• Advise on technology stacks, tradeoffs, and implementation approaches (CMS/DAM, front end, APIs, AI services).

• Translate content strategy and design intent into executable technical plans.

Hands-On Delivery & Prototyping

• Design and build proof-of-concepts that demonstrate feasibility, value, and scalability.

• Implement front-end integrations with headless CMS/DAM platforms.

• Build or wire up GenAI workflows (LLM, RAG) into content creation, assembly, and delivery pipelines.

• Collaborate directly with client and partner (e.g., Mphasis) engineering teams on implementation.

AI & Content Enablement

• Integrate AI-assisted authoring, retrieval, and personalization features into content systems.

• Define guardrails for AI usage, including privacy, consent, accessibility, and observability.

• Design evaluation approaches for AI outputs (quality, factuality, tone, accessibility).

Quality, Performance & Operations

• Ensure accessibility (WCAG), performance (Core Web Vitals), and scalability are built in from the start.

• Define testing strategies for content models, front-end rendering, and AI outputs.

• Support launch readiness with documentation, runbooks, and defect triage.

Practice Growth

• Act as an internal technical advisor and multiplier.

• Help define future roles and participate in hiring more specialized engineers as demand grows.

What we are looking for:

Skills & Experience

Core Requirements

• Senior-level, hands-on engineering experience (you still code).

• Strong front-end fundamentals (HTML, CSS, JavaScript/TypeScript); React/Next.js preferred.

• Experience integrating headless CMS/DAM platforms (e.g., Contentful, AEM Headless, Sitecore).

• Practical experience working with LLMs, RAG patterns, or AI-driven workflows.

• Comfort designing APIs, data contracts, and front-end/state management patterns.

• Experience working directly with clients or stakeholders in a consulting or delivery role.

AI & Content Systems

• Experience embedding AI into content workflows (authoring, assembly, review, personalization).

• Understanding of evaluation metrics (quality, safety, accessibility) and human-in-the-loop review.

• Familiarity with privacy, compliance, and accessibility considerations for AI systems.

Testing & Quality

• Experience with front-end testing (unit, integration, UI) and accessibility tooling.

• Ability to design validation strategies for modular content and AI outputs.

Nice to Haves

• Design systems experience (Storybook, tokens, enterprise component libraries).

• Performance optimization (SSR/ISR, edge/CDN strategies).

• Internationalization and localization workflows.

• Experience with AI observability, cost monitoring, or prompt optimization.

• CMS-integrated AI evaluation or reviewer dashboards.

$80 - $100 an hour

Our Pay Philosophy

We provide clear career paths and opportunities for growth while maintaining a strong sense of inclusivity in our workforce. We continue to infuse the same philosophy when it comes to posting positions by practicing salary transparency; each role is assigned a clear salary band which our recruiters will review at the start of the interview process.

So while the above pay rate or salary range represents the expected hourly rate or salary for this position, in determining your actual pay it will be reviewed by a recruiter and take into consideration: your experience, your location, etc

About Us

Blink UX is a design consulting firm creating products that people use, love and remember. Blink has over two decades of experience in UX research, strategy, and design partnering with innovative industry leaders including Amazon, Chase, Gates Foundation, Google, Meta, and NASA. For more information visit blinkux.com.

EEO

When hiring, we aim to build teams of compassionate people with diverse experiences, thoughts, and skills. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sexual preference, gender identity or age, disability, or length of time spent unemployed.

Following your application submission we encourage you to disclose personal demographic information in order to help us comply with federal and state Equal Employment Opportunity record-keeping requirements. We will also use this information in an anonymous aggregated form to help us measure and improve diversity at Blink.