Founding Forward Deployed Engineer

Clera; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 110,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

Clera in Austin is seeking its founding Forward Deployed Engineer to own US customer deployments from onboarding to ongoing success, joining engineering, customer success and product. You’ll be Clera’s technical face to US clients, embedded in their operations, solving real problems, and feeding critical insights back to the core product team.

Requirements include 3–10+ years in a forward deployed, solutions engineering, or similar customer‑facing technical role, strong software fundamentals,

Qualifications

• 3–10+ years in a forward deployed engineering, solutions engineering, technical customer success, or similar customer-facing role.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end deployments for US customers from onboarding to long-term success.
• Integrate the AI scheduling platform with customers' job management systems and workflows.
• Serve as the primary technical contact for US customers, diagnosing and resolving issues.
• Collaborate with product and engineering to translate customer feedback into product improvements.
• Build repeatable deployment playbooks, integration patterns, and technical documentation.
• Identify expansion opportunities within existing accounts.
• Travel to customer sites as needed to support deployments and relationships.

Skills

Years experience

Software fundamentals

API integration

Customer communication

Self-starter

Austin relocation

Job description

About the Role

A fast-growing, Y Combinator–backed startup is building AI agents for the short‑haul trucking and industrial logistics space — a massive market that still largely runs on spreadsheets and manual planning. With strong month‑over‑month revenue growth and a rapidly expanding US customer base, the team is hiring its first technical hire on the ground in the US: a Founding Forward Deployed Engineer who will own the full technical success of US customers from day one.

This is a high‑impact, front‑line role at the intersection of engineering, customer success, and product. You'll be the technical face of the company to US customers — embedded in their operations, solving real problems, and feeding critical insights back to the core product team.

What You’ll Do

• Own end‑to‑end technical deployments for US customers, from onboarding through to long‑term success.

• Integrate the AI scheduling platform with customers' existing job management systems, GPS tools, and operational workflows.

• Act as the primary technical point of contact for US customers, diagnosing and resolving issues quickly.

• Work closely with the product and engineering teams to translate customer feedback and field learnings into product improvements.

• Build repeatable deployment playbooks, integration patterns, and technical documentation to scale the US go‑to‑market motion.

• Identify and surface expansion opportunities within existing accounts.

• Travel to customer sites as needed to support hands‑on deployments and build strong relationships with operations and planning teams.

What We’re Looking For

Required

• 3–10+ years of experience in a forward deployed engineering, solutions engineering, technical customer success, or similar customer‑facing technical role.

• Strong software engineering fundamentals — comfortable reading, writing, and debugging code across a modern stack.

• Experience integrating SaaS products with third‑party systems (APIs, webhooks, data pipelines, etc.).

• Excellent communication skills — able to translate complex technical concepts for non‑technical operations teams.

• Self‑starter mentality with the ability to operate independently in an early‑stage, fast‑moving environment.

• Based in or willing to relocate to Austin, TX.

Nice to Have

• Background in logistics, fleet management, waste management, or industrial operations.

• Experience at an early‑stage startup or as a first/founding hire in a technical go‑to‑market role.

• Familiarity with AI/ML‑powered products or route optimization tools.

• Experience working with GPS telematics or job management platforms.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: $110,000 – $135,000 USD annually

• Founding‑team equity participation.

• High‑ownership role with direct influence on product, culture, and US market strategy.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.

Location

This is an on‑site role based in Austin, TX. Some travel to customer sites across the US should be expected.