Founding Forward Deployed Engineer

Fonzi AI; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 175,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Fonzi AI is an AI recruiting company powering the hiring behind NYC and SF's top startups. We are hiring for founding FDE roles in NYC and SF, offering a base salary in the $175K–$240K range, with equity in many roles.

Ideal candidates have 3+ years in customer-facing engineering and have owned deployments end-to-end, from first call to production. Hybrid or onsite work near NYC or SF is available, with opportunities to influence products based on field feedback.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in customer-facing engineering: FDE, solutions engineering, or selling your own product as a founder.
• You’ve owned a deployment end to end, from first call to production.
• You turn what customers say into product decisions.

Responsibilities

• The first 10 customer deployments.
• The playbook every later FDE will follow.
• Product calls based on what you saw in the field.

Skills

Customer-facing engineering

Python

TypeScript

SQL

Job description

Fonzi is an AI recruiting company powering the hiring behind NYC and SF's top startups.

Compensation

• Typical base: $175K to $240K on founding roles
• Salary is on the request before your first call. Many roles include equity.

Who's hiring

• 3 founding FDE roles open in NYC, 1 in SF, out of 34 FDE roles
• 140+ startups from pre-seed to late stage, backed by YC, a16z, Sequoia, General Catalyst and Founders Fund
• 85% are pre-seed to Series A, so teams are small and you own real scope

Who we’re looking for

• 3+ years in customer-facing engineering: FDE, solutions engineering, or selling your own product as a founder
• You’ve owned a deployment end to end, from first call to production
• You turn what customers say into product decisions
• Python or TypeScript, plus SQL
• You live in or near NYC or SF and want hybrid or onsite

What you could work on

• The first 10 customer deployments
• The playbook every later FDE will follow
• Product calls based on what you saw in the field

How it works

• We text you, learn what you want, and sharpen your profile.
• Startups send interview requests with a salary bid. You choose who to meet. It's free.