Forward Deployed Engineering Manager — Customer-Driven Tech

ID.me; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 188,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Dental

Vision

401(k) with company match

Parental leave

Unlimited PTO

Job summary

ID.me is seeking a Manager of Forward Deployed Engineering to sit within Product Operations and lead a small team embedded with customers. You will translate real-world problems into precise technical requirements for product and engineering, and build trust with customer technical stakeholders.

You will prioritize the team's backlog, align work with roadmaps, and mentor engineers while representing ID.me's technical roadmap externally and internally.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in a customer-facing engineering role (forward deployed engineering, solutions engineering, sales engineering, or implementation engineering).
• 2+ years managing engineers.
• Track record translating messy customer problems into clear technical specs.
• Experience building and prioritizing a backlog for a small team under competing deadlines.
• Strong technical fluency — read API docs, discuss data models, troubleshoot integrations.
• Excellent relationship-building with technical and non-technical stakeholders, including exec level.
• Clear, structured written and verbal communication; bridging diverse teams.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary translator between customers and ID.me's product ontology and engineering teams.
• Document and route customer-reported issues and edge cases with context for product and engineering.
• Build repeatable processes (templates, intake forms, escalation paths) to prevent miscommunication.

Skills

Customer-facing

Engineering leadership

Requirements translation

Backlog management

APIs & data models

Relationship building

Communication

Job description

ID.me is seeking a Manager of Forward Deployed Engineering to sit within Product Operations and lead a small team embedded with customers. You will translate real-world problems into precise technical requirements for product and engineering, and build trust with customer technical stakeholders.

You will prioritize the team's backlog, align work with roadmaps, and mentor engineers while representing ID.me's technical roadmap externally and internally.