Founding Forward-Deployed Engineer: Frontline Impact

FDE Team; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 215,000; Full time

Job summary

FDE Team is seeking a Founding Forward Deployed Engineer who will work closely with trusted partner companies to understand customer problems, build rapid field solutions, and translate learnings into product requirements. The role emphasizes direct customer engagement, field-driven product decisions, and frequent travel.

Ideal candidates bring 4+ years of relevant experience in both large enterprises and startups, with strong engineering fundamentals, exceptional communication, and a bias

Qualifications

• 4+ years of relevant experience.
• Experience in both a big-tech/enterprise environment and a startup.
• Startup experience with minimal processes or guardrails.
• Direct experience working with end users to solve real problems.
• Strong engineering fundamentals and the ability to build quickly.
• Strong written and verbal communication.

Responsibilities

• Work directly alongside end users to understand real problems.
• Build fast, practical solutions including analyses, integrations, scripts, and prototypes.
• Ship against ambiguous and constantly changing requirements.
• Translate customer pain points into clear product requirements.
• Help shape the product roadmap based on frontline customer learnings.
• Work closely with engineering and product teams to turn field insights into product improvements.
• Operate in sensitive, regulated, or mission-critical environments.
• Travel regularly to work directly with users.

Skills

End user interaction

Engineering fundamentals

Bias toward action

Strong communication

Travel readiness

Job description

FDE Team is seeking a Founding Forward Deployed Engineer who will work closely with trusted partner companies to understand customer problems, build rapid field solutions, and translate learnings into product requirements. The role emphasizes direct customer engagement, field-driven product decisions, and frequent travel.

Ideal candidates bring 4+ years of relevant experience in both large enterprises and startups, with strong engineering fundamentals, exceptional communication, and a bias