Forward Deployed Engineer | GenAI/LLM | NYC or SF | $170K-$400K + Equity | Confidential

Xcede; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 400,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Hybrid — 3 days/week NYC or SF

Up to 50% travel

H-1B/O-1 considered

Job summary

Confidential is hiring a Forward Deployed Engineer to own customer engagements, shaping architecture and engineering standards for production-grade AI systems. The role blends hands-on coding with mentorship, exposing you to CEO/CTO-level stakeholders from day one.

You will lead deployments, build AI applications with LLMs, and collaborate with executives to translate real workflows into reliable, scalable solutions. Hybrid work model in NYC or SF with travel.

Qualifications

• Senior software engineer with production-grade experience across large-scale systems.
• Strong Python and SQL proficiency required.
• Hands-on LLM experience including agents, retrieval, evaluation and integration.

Responsibilities

• Lead software workstreams for customer deployments including architecture and production readiness.
• Build AI applications, agents, and workflow tools using LLMs and production data systems.
• Translate client workflows into reliable AI solutions with direct customer outcomes.
• Prototype quickly and harden successful approaches into reusable references.
• Design monitoring and evaluation strategies to improve quality and trust.
• Mentor engineers and guide teams through complex technical problems.

Skills

Python

SQL

LLM experience

Production systems

Leadership/mentoring

Tools

APIs

Cloud platforms

Job description

NYC or SF (Hybrid, 3 days/week) | $170,000–$400,000 base + equity | Confidential search — company revealed on application

The Opportunity

My client is a newly launched, enterprise AI deployment company — backed by a multi-billion-dollar funding round from a group of leading global investors, at a launch valuation in the tens of billions. They build and deploy production-grade generative AI systems for some of the world's largest and most technically demanding enterprises, working at the genuine frontier of applied AI not research, not theory, real production systems moving real enterprise workflows.

They're scaling aggressively across New York and San Francisco, with a long-run plan to build a 100-person Forward Deployed Engineering team in each city. This is a ground-floor opportunity to shape that build.

The Role

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you'll be a senior technical owner across customer engagements shaping architecture, setting engineering standards, and moving enterprise teams from prototype to durable, production-grade AI systems. It's a hands‑on player‑coach role: you write code, review designs, mentor engineers, and own customer outcomes directly — with direct exposure to CEO/CTO-level stakeholders from day one.

What you’ll do

• Lead software engineering workstreams for customer deployments — architecture, implementation quality, evaluation strategy, production readiness for LLM-powered systems
• Build AI applications, agents, and workflow tools using LLMs, retrieval, orchestration, APIs, and production data systems
• Work directly with customer technical and business stakeholders to translate real workflows into reliable AI systems
• Prototype quickly, then harden what works into reusable reference architectures
• Design evaluation and monitoring approaches that improve quality, reliability, and customer trust
• Mentor engineers through ambiguous technical problems

What you’ll bring

• Senior software engineering background — production applications, microservices, APIs, scalable data pipelines, cloud infrastructure
• Strong Python and SQL — non‑negotiable
• Hands‑on production LLM experience — agents, retrieval, evaluation, fine‑tuning, prompt engineering, model integration — not proof‑of‑concept work alone
• A track record of taking projects from prototype to production and setting a high bar while keeping pace
• Comfort operating with executive‑level stakeholders — client relationship as a first‑order priority
• A “founder” or “company builder” mentality — Forward Deployed backgrounds (Palantir-style, in particular) especially well regarded
• Clear, structured communication across technical and non‑technical audiences

Compensation & Logistics

• Base: $170,000–$400,000, dependent on level and location
• Meaningful equity as an early participant in a fast‑scaling, well‑funded business
• Hybrid — 3 days/week in NYC or SF office
• Up to 50% travel including client on‑site work
• H-1B/O-1 candidates considered (12+ months remaining on current status)

Full company details, brand, and specifics shared once we connect — apply to find out more.