Forward Deployed Engineering Lead

Aircall.io, Inc.; New York, Santa Fe (NY, NM); On-site; USD 185,000 - 256,000; Full time

Job summary

Aircall is hiring for a Forward Deployed Engineering Lead in the United States. You will personally build, deploy, and optimize AI Agent solutions for strategic customers while coaching the regional FDE team and owning the region's AIVA targets.

You’ll collaborate across Product, Engineering, Sales, Solutions, and Customer Success to drive adoption and influence roadmaps from the field. The role requires hands-on technical depth and strong business acumen.

Qualifications

• 5–6+ years in forward deployed engineering, solutions engineering, technical consulting, or a comparable role with hands-on building experience.
• Fluency with APIs, integrations, and at least one programming language.
• Ability to align technical delivery with revenue outcomes and forecast pipelines.
• Experience engaging VP and C-suite stakeholders, both internally and with customers.
• Proven coaching capability to raise a team's technical bar.
• Strategic thinking to scope new use cases from ambiguity and deliver outcomes.
• Strong track record of owning complex, cross-functional projects from idea to delivery.
• Entrepreneurial mindset, treating the region as a startup within a startup.

Responsibilities

• Co-own the AIVA number for the region with the regional GM, partnering with AEs, AMs, and CSMs on pipeline and revenue targets.
• Stay hands-on and technically proficient: build and deploy AI Agent solutions for strategic accounts.
• Coach regional FDE team on technical execution and deployment quality.
• Develop and evolve global playbooks, reference architectures, and deployment frameworks.
• Drive the region's AIVA go-to-market motion with pipeline hygiene and KPI alignment.
• Lead enablement sessions and collaborate with Enablement to support adoption.
• Translate field feedback to Product/Engineering as roadmap input.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives to grow agentic adoption region-wide.

Skills

Hands-on depth

Technical fluency

Commercial acumen

Executive stakeholder engagement

Coaching leadership

Strategic thinking

Ownership track record

Entrepreneurial mindset

Job description

Aircall is a unicorn, AI-powered customer communications platform used by 22,000+ companies worldwide to drive revenue, resolve issues faster, and scale customer-facing teams. We’re redefining customer communications by bringing voice, SMS, WhatsApp, and AI together into one seamless workspace.

Our momentum comes from a simple idea: help teams work smarter, not harder. Aircall’s AI Voice Agent automates routine calls, AI Assist streamlines post-call work, and AI Assist Pro delivers real-time guidance so people can do their best work. The result is higher revenue, faster resolutions, and teams that scale with confidence.

Aircall is headquartered in Paris, our European HQ, with a strong North American presence anchored in Seattle, our North American HQ, and teams across Madrid, London, Berlin, San Francisco, New York City, Sydney, and Mexico City. We’ve built a product customers love and a business that’s scaling quickly, backed by world-class investors and driven by rapid AI innovation across multiple product lines.

At Aircall, you’ll join a company in motion. We’re ambitious, product-driven, and execution-focused, with visible impact, fast decisions, and real growth.

How we work at Aircall:We’re customer-obsessed, data-driven, and focused on delivering meaningful outcomes. We value ownership, continuous learning, and thoughtful speed. If you thrive in a collaborative, fast-moving environment where trust and impact matter, you’ll feel at home here.

About the Team

Forward Deployed Engineering connects Aircall's AI Voice Agent (AIVA) and AI Messaging Agent (AIMA) to real-world customer workflows, turning possibility into production. The team sits within Customer Solutions & Applied AI and works cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Sales, Solutions, and Customer Success, globally across EMEA, AMER, and APAC. This role owns the FDE motion for one region, reporting to the SVP, Customer Solutions & Applied AI.

About the Role

The FDE Lead is a player-coach, not a traditional people-manager. You'll still be building: personally configuring, deploying, and debugging AI Agent solutions on real customer engagements, because the fastest way to raise the bar for your team is to keep raising your own. You'll also coach the regional FDE team, own the region's AIVA number, and turn what you build yourself into the playbooks and frameworks the team runs on.

Your remit doesn't stop at FDE. You are helping drive the agentic revolution across the whole region, educating our internal teams, collaborating with our marketing team, impact the whole customer journey in your region.

Core Responsibilities

• Co-own the AIVA number for the region with the regional GM, partnering with AEs, AMs, and CSMs on pipeline and revenue targets, and staying personally accountable for hitting it.
• Stay hands-on and technical: personally configure, build, and deploy AI Agent solutions on a portfolio of strategic or complex accounts, leading by building rather than only reviewing.
• Coach and upskill the regional FDE team on technical execution, agent configuration, and deployment quality through pairing and hands-on review, not just process.
• Build and evolve the global playbooks, reference architectures, and deployment frameworks the team runs on by compounding the team’s knowledge and expertise.
• Drive the region's AIVA go-to-market motion, embedding pipeline hygiene, forecasting discipline, and clear input/output KPIs across the team.
• Run enablement and upskilling sessions in the region, collaborating with the Enablement team so the wider organisation can speak to and support agentic adoption.
• Represent field reality to Product and Engineering, translating what you and the team are building, and where you hit friction, into roadmap input.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives that grow agentic adoption region-wide, coordinating with Marketing, Support, and other GTM teams as needed.

What We're Looking For

We're looking for builders, not career managers — but builders who also have the seniority and business judgement to own a regional number and be credible in front of VP and C-suite stakeholders, internally and with customers. Depth of hands-on experience matters as much as a demonstrated ability to think commercially.

• Hands-on technical depth: 5–6+ years in forward deployed engineering, solutions engineering, technical consulting, or a comparable role, with a proven track record of personally building, configuring, and shipping integrations or agent solutions, not just directing others who do.
• Technical fluency: comfortable with APIs, integrations, and at least one programming language, with the technical aptitude to quickly get hands-on with new agent capabilities as they ship.
• Commercial and business acumen: able to align technical delivery with revenue outcomes — deal structures, forecasting, pipeline hygiene, and how a deployment translates into the region's AIVA number.
• Executive stakeholder engagement: proven experience engaging and influencing VP and C-suite stakeholders, both internally and at customer organisations, without losing technical credibility.
• People leadership through coaching: demonstrated ability to raise a team's technical bar by building alongside them and reviewing their work hands-on, not by managing from a distance.
• Strategic thinking: able to scope new use cases and opportunities from ambiguity, not only execute against a defined brief.
• Track record of ownership: a clear history of taking complex, cross-functional projects from idea to delivered outcome, and being accountable for the result.
• Entrepreneurial mindset: treats the region like a startup within a startup and doesn't wait for permission to fix what's broken.

Nice to haves

• Experience in conversational AI, voice AI, or contact centre technology.
• Experience with CRMs, help desks, or System-of-Truth integrations.
• Prior experience in an overlay or specialist GTM motion.

Base salary range:

$185,000 - $256,000 USD

Key moment to join Aircall in terms of growth and opportunities

Our people matter, work-life balance is important at Aircall

Fast-learning environment, entrepreneurial and strong team spirit

Competitive salary package & benefits

DE&I Statement:

At Aircall, we believe diversity, equity and inclusion – irrespective of origins, identity, background and orientations – are core to our journey.

We pride ourselves on promoting active inclusion within our business to foster a strong sense of belonging for all.

We’re working to create a place filled with diverse people who can enrich and learn from one another.

We’re committed to ensuring that everyone not only has a seat at the table but is valued and respected at it by providing equal opportunities to develop and thrive.

We will constantly challenge ourselves to make sure that we live up to our ambitions around diversity, equity and inclusion, and keep this conversation open.

Above all else, we understand and acknowledge that we have work to do and much to learn.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.