Founding Head of Customer-Facing Engineering

Invoca; San Francisco, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Paid time off

401(k) plan with company match

Job summary

Invoca seeks a Founding Head of Forward Deployed Engineering to build and lead a team embedded in our GTM motion. You will hire, coach, and prioritize engineering support for deals, acting as the escalation point when needed to accelerate implementations.

You’ll partner with Sales, Solutions Engineering, and Customer Success to align the FDE function with the sales and onboarding motion, and you’ll scale the team while maintaining impact on pipeline and customer outcomes.

Qualifications

• Prior experience in a customer-facing technical role similar to a forward deployed engineer or solutions engineer.
• People management experience or clear evidence of leadership in technical, customer-facing capacity.
• Strong business judgment to prioritize deals worth engineering effort.
• Comfort operating at the intersection of Sales, Product, and Engineering.
• Track record turning bespoke customer work into repeatable processes and assets.
• Excellent executive communication, capable of reporting impact to sales and leadership.

Responsibilities

• Hire, coach, and manage a team of Forward Deployed Engineers; set the bar for customer-facing technical excellence.
• Prioritize deployment across the deal pipeline to allocate engineering support.
• Serve as senior technical escalation point on strategic deals and implementations.
• Collaborate with Sales, Solutions Engineering, and Customer Success to define FDE integration into the GTM motion.
• Establish operating rhythms for PoCs, debriefs, and reusable assets.
• Convey field insights to product/engineering with prioritized asks.
• Report team impact in business terms: deals influenced, time-to-value, win rates.
• Plan headcount and capacity across locations and specializations.
• Support up to 50% on-site engagement with customers during implementation.

Skills

Forward Deployed Engineer

Solutions Engineer

People management

Business judgment

Cross-functional collaboration

Executive communication

Deal pipeline leadership

Technical escalation

Job description

Invoca seeks a Founding Head of Forward Deployed Engineering to build and lead a team embedded in our GTM motion. You will hire, coach, and prioritize engineering support for deals, acting as the escalation point when needed to accelerate implementations.

You’ll partner with Sales, Solutions Engineering, and Customer Success to align the FDE function with the sales and onboarding motion, and you’ll scale the team while maintaining impact on pipeline and customer outcomes.