Forward Deployed Engineer Lead | LLM Post-training

Reflection AI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 330,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Top-tier compensation

Comprehensive health insurance

Fully paid parental leave

Paid time off

Daily meals provided

Job summary

A leading AI firm in San Francisco is seeking a technical leader for its Forward Deployed Engineering function. This role involves partnering with sales to meet customer needs and architecting advanced AI solutions. Ideal candidates should have 6+ years in software engineering, including experience in customer-facing environments and deploying enterprise solutions. The role offers top-tier compensation, comprehensive health benefits, and a supportive team environment.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of software engineering experience, including 2+ years in a leadership role.
• Experience deploying software in cloud or hybrid environments.
• Hands-on experience with modern AI stacks and machine learning concepts.
• Hands-on ML with vector databases, RAG, model fine-tuning.

Responsibilities

• Partner with teams to architect solutions for enterprise customer needs.
• Build complex agentic systems and workflows.
• Ensure scalable and reliable production deployments.
• Define playbooks, standards, and mentor the team.
• Partner with deployment strategists and sales to understand enterprise needs.

Skills

Software engineering

Python

TypeScript

DevOps practices

Machine learning concepts

Customer-facing environments

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Vector databases

RAG pipelines

Job description

Our Mission

Reflection’s mission is to build open superintelligence and make it accessible to all.

We’re developing open weight models for individuals, agents, enterprises, and even nation states. Our team of AI researchers and company builders come from DeepMind, OpenAI, Google Brain, Meta, Character.AI, Anthropic and beyond.

Role Overview

We’re seeking an exceptional technical leader to build and scale Reflection’s Forward Deployed Engineering function within the Applied AI team. This team plays a critical role in bridging our cutting‑edge AI research with real‑world enterprise deployments. As a founding Forward Deployed Engineer, you will own the end‑to‑end technical strategy, execution, and delivery of complex agentic applications, from early pre‑sales discovery through production deployment.

What You’ll Do

• Partner with Deployment Strategists and Sales to understand enterprise customer needs, architect solutions, and develop transformative agentic applications.
• Architect and build complex agentic systems using state‑of‑the‑art models, orchestrating sophisticated LLM workflows and integrating deeply with enterprise infrastructure.
• Collaborate with research teams to adapt and fine‑tune models for customer‑specific needs, contributing to our internal codebase for inference, fine‑tuning, and evaluation.
• Own end‑to‑end deployments across hybrid environments (public cloud, VPC, and on‑premises), ensuring production‑grade scalability, performance, and reliability.
• Shape and scale the Forward Deployed Engineering organization by defining playbooks, best practices, technical standards, and mentorship to support team growth.

What We’re Looking For

• Strong software engineering background with experience shipping production‑grade systems (Python, Typescript)
• Proven track record of deploying enterprise software in cloud or hybrid environments using modern DevOps practices (Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD).
• Deep understanding of machine learning concepts and hands‑on experience with modern AI stacks, including vector databases, RAG pipelines, agent orchestration, evaluations, and fine‑tuning.
• 6+ years of software engineering experience, including 2+ years in a technical leadership capacity delivering AI‑driven enterprise solutions (e.g., Lead Forward Deployed Engineer, Tech Lead, or Engineering Manager).
• Demonstrated ability and interest to work in customer‑facing environments, understanding user needs, architecting solutions for real business problems, and delivering tangible outcomes.
• Self‑starter with high agency and ownership, excelling in fast‑paced startup environments where playbooks are still being written.

What We Offer

We believe that to build superintelligence that is truly open, you need to start at the foundation. Joining Reflection means building from the ground up as part of a small talent‑dense team. You will help define our future as a company, and help define the frontier of open foundational models.

We want you to do the most impactful work of your career with the confidence that you and the people you care about most are supported.

• Top‑tier compensation: Salary and equity structured to recognize and retain the best talent globally.
• Health & wellness: Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance.
• Life & family: Fully paid parental leave for all new parents, including adoptive and surrogate journeys. Financial support for family planning.
• Benefits & balance: paid time off when you need it, relocation support, and more perks that optimize your time.
• Opportunities to connect with teammates: lunch and dinner are provided daily. We have regular off‑sites and team celebrations.