Forward Deployed Engineer - AI SOC

AHEAD; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Medium in Chicago seeks a Forward Deployed Engineer to deploy, integrate, and operationalize next‑generation security and AI capabilities in real‑world customer environments.

You will translate complex requirements into scalable, production‑ready solutions, collaborating with security leaders, analysts, platform teams, data scientists, and infrastructure stakeholders to accelerate value.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in security engineering or related technical roles.
• Hands-on experience implementing and operating modern SOC technologies such as SIEM, XDR, and SOAR.
• Experience working with cloud platforms and automation to deploy scalable security solutions.

Responsibilities

• Lead deployment of security and AI solutions in customer or enterprise environments.
• Translate business and security requirements into deployable architectures and plans.
• Partner with stakeholders to align solutions with operational goals and compliance needs.
• Act as a trusted advisor during onboarding, rollout, and optimization phases.
• Design integrations across SIEM, XDR, SOAR, data platforms, and AI-enabled tooling.

Skills

Security engineering

Tools

SIEM

XDR

SOAR

Cloud platforms

Job description

We are an equal opportunity employer, and do not discriminate based on an individual's race, national origin, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived.

The Forward Deployed Engineer is responsible for deploying, integrating, and operationalizing next‑generation security and AI capabilities in real‑world customer and enterprise environments. This role works at the intersection of engineering, security operations, data, and customer success to translate complex requirements into scalable, production‑ready solutions.

This individual partners closely with security leaders, analysts, platform teams, data scientists, and infrastructure stakeholders to implement AI‑enabled SOC workflows, integrate security tooling, improve analyst experience, and accelerate time to value. The ideal candidate combines strong hands‑on engineering skills with a deep understanding of SOC operations, cloud platforms, automation, and customer‑facing delivery.

Responsibilities

Customer and Stakeholder Delivery

• Serve as the technical lead for deploying and operationalizing security and AI solutions in customer or enterprise environments
• Translate business, operational, and security requirements into deployable architectures and implementation plans
• Partner with internal and external stakeholders to ensure solutions are aligned to operational goals, compliance requirements, and long‑term platform strategy
• Act as a trusted advisor during onboarding, implementation, rollout, and optimization phases

Solution Implementation and Integration

• Design and implement integrations across SIEM, XDR, SOAR, case management, data platforms, and AI‑enabled tooling
• Build and configure cloud‑native data ingestion, normalization, and enrichment pipelines for security telemetry
• Integrate APIs, webhooks, message queues, and automation workflows across identity, endpoint, cloud, network, and application ecosystems
• Develop reusable deployment patterns, templates, and technical assets to accelerate future implementations

AI‑Enabled Security Operations

• Operationalize AI and automation use cases within security workflows, including alert enrichment, triage support, summarization, clustering, playbook selection, and analyst copilots
• Work with detection engineering and data teams to support implementation of behavioral analytics, anomaly detection, risk scoring, and other AI‑assisted security use cases
• Help define data requirements, feedback loops, and operational guardrails needed to support effective AI outcomes in production environments
• Ensure deployed solutions are practical, measurable, and aligned to analyst workflows and response objectives

Automation and Reliability

• Implement secure and governed automation for investigation and response use cases across heterogeneous environments
• Support resiliency, observability, performance, and scale requirements for deployed solutions
• Troubleshoot integration issues, deployment blockers, and production challenges in partnership with platform, cloud, and security teams
• Improve reliability and maintainability through documentation, testing, monitoring, and standardized engineering practices

Cross‑Functional Leadership

• Collaborate across Security Operations, Security Engineering, Detection Engineering, Data Science, Infrastructure, and product or customer teams
• Communicate technical concepts clearly to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders
• Mentor engineers and contribute to best practices for implementation, delivery, and technical solution design
• Provide field feedback to influence platform roadmap, product direction, and architectural standards

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in security engineering, platform engineering, forward deployed engineering, solutions engineering, or related technical roles
• Hands‑on experience implementing and operating modern SOC technologies such as SIEM, XDR, and SOAR