Forward Deployed Engineer (SDEV)

Ladders; United States; Remote; USD 145,000 - 219,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits package

Flexible work arrangements

Company equity

Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP)

Retirement or pension plan

Generous paid vacation time

Paid holidays and sick leave

Wellness days

Paid parental leave

Paid volunteer time off

Company-wide hack weeks

Mental wellness programs

Job summary

Ladders is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer (SDEV) to partner with strategic customers in the Enterprise Tech space, designing, building, and deploying advanced software to accelerate adoption of automation and agent-based capabilities.

The role blends hands-on engineering with customer-facing technical leadership and practical delivery in dynamic environments where ambiguity becomes production software. Remote US-based; visa not sponsored.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of production software development experience.
• Hands-on experience with LLM and agent systems in production.
• Strong customer-facing skills for technical design sessions and business presentations.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and deliver working software from vague problem statements.
• Proven track record of shipping widely adopted software and discerning customer needs.
• Expertise in infrastructure and deployment using Terraform or Pulumi, GitOps, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Willingness to travel 25-50% for customer engagements.

Responsibilities

• Embed with strategic customer teams to drive adoption of the company's agent capabilities.
• Build and contribute to core agent functionality through design and development.
• Run pilots to remove blockers to customer adoption and gather evaluation data.
• Integrate the company's solution with production environments and guide customers toward autonomous operations.
• Provide technical direction and share field feedback with product teams.

Skills

8+ years exp

LLM/Agent systems

Customer-facing

Ambiguity management

Shipping software

Terraform

Pulumi

GitOps

CI/CD

Travel 25-50%

Tools

Terraform

Pulumi

GitOps

CI/CD

Job description

For our client, we are seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer (SDEV) to join the team of a leader in the Enterprise Technology space.

This role will partner closely with strategic customers to design, build, and deploy advanced software solutions that accelerate adoption of modern automation and agent-based capabilities.

The position combines hands-on engineering, customer-facing technical leadership, and practical delivery in environments where ambiguity must be translated into working production software.

You will also collaborate with internal product teams to shape improvements based on real-world deployment feedback and customer needs.

Location: Remote - US based candidates only, no visa sponsorship available

Compensation: $145,000 – $218,900 annually

Responsibilities

• Embed with strategic customer teams to drive adoption of the company's agent capabilities
• Build and contribute to core agent functionality through design and development
• Run pilots to remove blockers to customer adoption and gather evaluation data
• Integrate the company's solution with production environments and guide customers toward autonomous operations
• Provide technical direction and share field feedback with product teams

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in production software development across teams
• Hands-on experience with LLM and agent systems in production
• Strong customer-facing skills for technical design sessions and business presentations
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and deliver working software from vague problem statements
• Proven track record of shipping widely adopted software and discerning customer needs
• Expertise in infrastructure and deployment using Terraform or Pulumi, GitOps, and CI/CD pipelines
• Willingness to travel 25-50% for customer engagements

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Comprehensive benefits package
• Flexible work arrangements
• Company equity
• Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP)
• Retirement or pension plan
• Generous paid vacation time
• Paid holidays and sick leave
• Wellness days
• Paid parental leave
• Paid volunteer time off
• Company-wide hack weeks
• Mental wellness programs

Our client is an equal opportunity employer.