Founding Forward Deployed Engineer

Clera; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 215,000; Full time

Job summary

Clera is seeking a founding-level, customer-facing software engineer to work directly with law enforcement and prosecutors, translating frontline feedback into product enhancements. You’ll travel frequently, shaping the roadmap and delivering practical solutions in a fast-paced, early-stage environment.

Ideal candidates have 3+ years building production systems, startup exposure, and a genuine mission to improve public safety. Expect hybrid work from NYC with travel to the SF Bay Area and beyond.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of software engineering experience delivering production systems.
• Demonstrated ability to work directly with end users and ship technical solutions.
• Experience in early-stage or fast-paced environments with shifting requirements and autonomy.
• Track record at a strong engineering organization, ideally with startup experience.
• Willingness to travel extensively and engage deeply with field users.

Responsibilities

• Work directly with law enforcement agencies and prosecutors nationwide to understand their evidence management challenges.
• Build immediate, practical solutions for user problems, including one-off analyses and integrations.
• Travel 25 to 75% of the time to spend in-person time with customers and gather frontline insights.
• Translate customer feedback into pull requests and clear specifications shaping the product roadmap.
• Operate across the full stack in a fast-moving, early-stage environment with ambiguity.

Job description

About the Role

This is a founding-level, customer-facing engineering role at a Y Combinator-backed govtech startup building AI-powered tools to help law enforcement and prosecutors manage evidence overload. You will sit at the intersection of product and field operations, spending significant time with users to solve their real-world problems directly and translating those insights into the product roadmap. It is a high-autonomy, high-impact position on an intentionally small team.

What You'll Do

• Work directly with law enforcement agencies and prosecutors nationwide to understand their evidence management challenges.

• Build immediate, practical solutions for user problems, including one-off analyses and custom integrations, even when they do not scale.

• Travel 25 to 75% of the time to spend in-person time with customers and gather frontline insights.

• Convert customer feedback into pull requests and clear technical specifications that shape the product roadmap.

• Operate across the full stack in a fast-moving, early-stage environment where ambiguity and shifting priorities are routine.

What We're Looking For

• 3 or more years of software engineering experience building and delivering production systems.

• Demonstrated ability to work directly with end users, translate their needs into technical solutions, and ship those solutions.

• Experience in early-stage or fast-paced environments where requirements shift rapidly and autonomy is expected.

• Track record at a strong engineering organization, ideally paired with startup experience.

• Comfort building things that solve problems now, not just things designed to scale infinitely.

• Genuine mission-driven mindset and enthusiasm for contributing to public safety and government effectiveness.

• Willingness to travel extensively and engage deeply with field users.

• Openness to supporting an FBI background check and CJIS clearance process.

• Background in regulated or sensitive domains such as government, defense, intelligence, or public sector technology is a strong plus.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary between $130,000 and $215,000 USD annually, plus meaningful founding-level equity and performance-based bonuses. Visa sponsorship is available.

Location

Primary location is New York City, with a secondary presence in the San Francisco Bay Area. Hybrid work arrangement. Remote with regular travel may be considered for exceptional candidates.