Forward Deployed Engineer, AI Labs

Socket.dev; New York (NY); On-site; USD 160,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Free medical plans

401K matching

Catered lunch on Wednesdays

Job summary

Via is launching AI Labs and seeks a Forward Deployed Engineer to build AI-powered products end-to-end. As a founding member, you will own problem framing, data pipelines, deployment, and iteration in live environments while collaborating with city partners to solve real-world mobility challenges.

Travel to sites is expected. You will work across a fast-moving roadmap, contributing to AI tooling and products, and partner with product, data science, and operations to identify impactful

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on experience building full stack applications, owning features end-to-end.
• 3+ years of working with AI tools and/or building AI powered products.
• Deep expertise across the AI stack including LLMs, predictive modelling, and data infra.
• Backend engineer at core with scalable API design and distributed systems.
• Energized by ambiguity and early-stage environments; take ownership without prompting.
• Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration; curious to push AI boundaries.
• Willingness to travel to collaborate on-site with users and customers.

Responsibilities

• Build and ship production-grade AI products end-to-end from framing to deployment in live environments.
• Work with customers in a forward-deployed manner to understand problems and iterate on AI solutions.
• Lead technical scoping workshops interfacing with city leaders to solve local problems.
• Contribute to data consolidation, predictive modelling, real-time decision-making, and LLM-powered experiences.
• Collaborate with product, data science, and operations to identify high-impact AI opportunities.
• Write clean, scalable backend and frontend code powering AI-driven features and APIs.
• Help shape the technical culture of AI Labs from the ground up.
• Stay at the frontier of AI development and bring new ideas and tools into the team.

Skills

Full stack development

AI product development

LLMs / AI stack

API design

Distributed systems

Backend engineering

Cross-functional collaboration

Travel readiness

Job description

Via is on a mission to create public transportation systems that provide far greater access to jobs, healthcare, and education. Our platform serves as the technology backbone for modern transit networks, transforming antiquated and siloed public transportation systems into smart, data-driven, and efficient digital networks. With hundreds of agency partners around the world, Via is recognized as the leading transportation technology and service provider globally.

We're now launching AI Labs - an incubator-style team operating like a startup within the company - to expand our reach and provide cutting-edge technical solutions to cities in areas beyond transit.

As a Forward Deployed Engineer at Via, you'll be a founding member of Via's new AI Labs - an incubator-style team operating like a startup within the company. This is a rare opportunity to get in at the ground floor of something genuinely new: a dedicated space to move fast, experiment boldly, and build AI-powered products that could fundamentally change how Via and our partner cities operate. You'll have real autonomy, direct access to leadership, and the backing of a company that's already at scale - without the constraints that usually come with it. If you're experienced at building AI products end-to-end and you're energized by the idea of doing that with a blank canvas, this is the role for you.

About the Role

• Build and ship production-grade AI products end-to-end - owning everything from problem framing and data pipeline design through to deployment and iteration in live environments.
• Work closely with our customers in a forward-deployed manner to deeply understand problems and constraints and iterate quickly on scalable agentic solutions.
• Lead technical scoping workshops, directly interfacing with city leaders to solve challenging local problems with agentic workflows.
• Work across a fast-moving and varied roadmap, contributing to intelligent tooling involving data consolidation, predictive modelling, real-time decision-making, and LLM-powered experiences.
• Collaborate directly with product, data science, and operations teams to identify and prioritize the highest-impact AI opportunities across the business.
• Write clean, scalable backend and frontend code that powers AI-driven features - designing APIs, managing data flows, and ensuring your systems perform reliably at scale.
• Help shape the technical culture of AI Labs from the ground up - contributing to how the team builds, reviews, ships, and iterates.
• Stay close to the frontier of AI development and bring new ideas, tools, and approaches into the team proactively.

About You

• You have 5+ years of hands-on experience building full stack applications - with a track record of owning features end-to-end rather than working in isolation on models or research.
• You have 3+ years of working with AI tools and/or building AI powered products
• You have deep expertise across the AI stack - including LLMs, predictive modelling, and the data infrastructure required to support them in real-world environments.
• You're a strong backend engineer at your core - comfortable designing scalable APIs, working with distributed systems, and writing code that is clean, maintainable, and built to last.
• You're energized by ambiguity and early-stage environments - you don't need everything to be defined to do great work, and you take ownership without being asked.
• You bring the communication skills to work cross-functionally and the intellectual curiosity to keep pushing the boundaries of what's possible with AI.
• You thrive when working directly with users and customers, and are comfortable with travel to collaborate on-site.

Compensation and Benefits (US only)

• Final salary will be determined by the candidate's experience, knowledge, and skills. Salary reflected does not include equity or variable pay, where applicable.
• Salary Range: $160,000 - $220,000
• We are proud to offer a generous and comprehensive benefits package, including free medical plans, 401K matching, catered lunch on Wednesdays, and many other perks.

There has never been a more exciting time to be on the cutting edge of public mobility. Ready to join the ride?

Via is an equal opportunity employer.