Founding Forward Deployed Engineer

fde; San Francisco, Northern (CA, KY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Amari is an early-stage San Francisco startup seeking a Founding Forward Deployed Engineer to define and own the deployment motion from scratch — from customer integrations to POCs and productionization — as one of the first engineers on the team.

Compensation targets a $180K–$260K range for this seed-stage role in San Francisco, reflecting the equity and cash mix typical for early hires at a high-ply startup.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the deployment motion from scratch — customer integrations, POCs, and productionization — as one of the first engineers on the team.

Job description

San Francisco, CA · Posted July 17, 2026

Why it's interesting

A clean 'founding FDE' title with a $180K–$260K band at a seed-stage SF startup — this is the archetype the whole category runs on: employee-single-digits, you define the deployment playbook before anyone writes it down. The comp is aggressive for pre-Series-A, which usually means they're trading cash for someone who can carry the first enterprise logos solo.

The role

Founding Forward Deployed Engineer at Amari, an early-stage San Francisco startup. Define and own the deployment motion from scratch — customer integrations, POCs, and productionization — as one of the first engineers on the team. $180K–$260K. Verified on Amari's Ashby board.