Forward Deployed Engineer, Routines

Athena; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Athena is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer, Routines, to work directly with clients to configure and optimize workflows using Athena AI. You’ll translate client problems into effective routines, build custom skills or integrations, and influence templates for broader adoption.

This role blends technical product sense with hands-on automation work. You will collaborate with product and engineering, learn client workflows quickly, and turn learnings into reusable patterns while adapting to

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience building AI automations and demos.
• Experience in forward-deployed/ client-embedded engineering roles.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering or equivalent work experience.

Responsibilities

• Partner directly with clients and XPs to configure, test, and troubleshoot Routines.
• Help XPs develop and refine their skills for Athena AI integrations.
• Customize and extend Routines for real cases and assess template potential.
• Contribute to the product roadmap by surfacing client pain points and requests.
• Support onboarding with automation and productization efforts.
• Collaborate with product and engineering to shape templates.

Skills

Software engineering

Technical product management

AI automation

Client-facing engineering

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

APIs

LLM-based agent systems

Orchestration frameworks

Job description

About Athena

Athena (athena.com) pairs world‑class leaders with elite executive assistants. It’s where some of the most powerful partnerships in the world get built.

Our clients are founders, executives, and leaders whose ambition exceeds their time. Athena is the first company to build a human‑in‑the‑loop executive support system, combining trained Executive Assistants with market‑leading AI to help them stay organized, follow through on priorities, and operate at their highest level.

Athena is one of the largest companies in this category, with 3,000+ clients and over $100M in annual run rate. Our clients include Uber, Shopify, and Goldman Sachs.

We are fully global, working across time zones and cultures. Joining Athena means creating something that fundamentally changes how people live and work and brings extraordinary achievement within reach.

Who We’re Looking For

We’re looking for people who take their work seriously and want to get better at it.

You should be thoughtful in how you approach problems, willing to take ownership, and able to follow through without constant direction. You ask questions when something doesn’t make sense, and you care about getting the details right.

You should be comfortable working with people who have high expectations and limited time. That means being clear, responsive, and reliable.

We’re also looking for people who are interested in how this role is changing. The way work gets done is in flux between people, systems, and AI. We want people who are curious about that and willing to adapt as technology evolves.

You don’t need to know everything on day one, but you should be able to learn quickly and apply what you learn.

Role Overview

Routines are Athena AI’s product for standing procedures: an Executive Assistant adopts a curated outcome once, grants bounded authority, sets a schedule, and Athena runs it going forward without custom workflow building. A Routine is really a workflow built out of underlying processes and skills, and building or polishing a good workflow and skill is often the harder, less obvious part of the job. Routines are the heartbeat of daily engagement with Athena AI.

The Forward Deployed Engineer, Routines will work directly with Athena's clients and XPs to configure, customize, and troubleshoot Routines so they fit each client’s real workflow -- then turn what’s learned into better templates and product improvements. This role sits between individual client problems and the Athena AI and Routines roadmap, and requires a technical/product background, hands‑on experience building AI automations, the empathy to quickly understand what a client actually needs, and enough product judgment to know when a one‑off fix should become a template.

Responsibilities

• Partner Directly with Clients and XPs: Work one‑on‑one to configure, test, and troubleshoot Routines against each client’s real workflows, tools, escalation rules, and edge cases.
• Help XPs Build and Polish Their Own Skills: Work hands‑on with XPs to develop and refine the individual skills they need, so those skills can be used by the Athena AI agent or plugged into a Routine wherever applicable.
• Customize and Extend Routines for Real Cases: When a stock template doesn’t fit, build the custom skill, integration, or tool that makes it work, then judge whether it belongs in the core product.
• Curate What Graduates into a Template: When a client‑specific build proves valuable, decide whether it should become a reusable template or client‑archetype variant, and shape what that first version looks like – in partnership with product and engineering.
• Strengthen the Core Routine Set: Contribute to the pre‑installed Routines every EA should have running from day one such as Morning Brief, Inbox Sweep, Calendar Audit, Travel Dossier, Meeting Prep Pack, and what comes next.
• Turn Onboarding into Routines: Embed with the onboarding team, learn how clients and EAs get ramped up today, and automate and productize that process inside Athena.
• Feed the Product Roadmap: Bring recurring client pain points, failure patterns, and feature requests back to the Routines product team as clear, prioritized requirements.

Qualifications

• Experience: Background in software engineering, technical product management, or a similarly technical/product role, with deep hands‑on experience building your own AI automations. You already use tools like Claude Code, Codex, or Cowork to automate parts of your life or work, and can demo what you’ve built. (Expect to demo personal automation as part of the interview.) Prior experience as a forward‑deployed engineer, solutions engineer, or other client‑embedded technical role is strongly preferred.
• Technical Skills: Comfortable working with integrations and APIs, LLM‑based agent systems, and automation/workflow tooling. Familiarity with orchestration frameworks or evaluation pipelines is a plus.
• Problem‑Solving: Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills, paired with the empathy to sit with a client or XP and quickly get past the stated request to the real underlying problem.
• Product Judgment: Comfortable spotting when a one‑off solution should become a template, and shaping that first version, without needing to own the full roadmap or engagement metrics.
• Collaboration: Excellent teamwork and communication skills, comfortable working directly with clients one‑on‑one, and translating those conversations into clear requirements for the product and engineering teams.
• Adaptability: Energized by solving one client’s problem at a time rather than designing only for the average case; able to manage multiple client engagements in a fast‑paced, dynamic environment.
• Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent work experience.

Equal Opportunity Employer

At Athena, we are deeply committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace environment. We believe that diversity enriches our organization, enhances creativity, and drives innovation. We are dedicated to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws. We strive to create an environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives and talents. We actively promote diversity and inclusion through our hiring practices, employee development initiatives, and company culture, recognizing that it is essential for our success as a company and as a community.