Head of Field Engineering

Runlayer; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and equity

Paid time off

Professional development

Top-tier equipment

Health benefits

Customer interaction opportunities

Job summary

Runlayer is seeking a Head of Field Engineering to lead the Forward Deployed Engineering team, taking the function from three to ten engineers and expanding into multi-region coverage.

You will own end-to-end customer motion, from pilot to enterprise deployment, partnering with the CEO, CPO, and VP of Go-to-Market to codify the technical playbook and scalable processes for large enterprise customers. This leadership role emphasizes hands-on execution and cross-functional collaboration.

Qualifications

• Ten+ years in technical customer-facing leadership roles.
• Proven ability to build and scale a field engineering function.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead the Forward Deployed Engineering team.
• Define onboarding and ramp for new engineers.
• Bring operational rigor and repeatable processes to deployments.
• Define the enterprise deployment playbook and best practices.
• Collaborate with GTM, Product, and Engineering leadership on design and territory models.
• Scale the function with regional leaders in year two.

Skills

Senior leadership

Technical foundation

Forward Deployed Eng

Startup experience

Enterprise scale

People leadership

Independent execution

Education

Degree in Computer Science

Job description

About Runlayer

AI is transforming how every company operates, but most enterprises are stuck. They want to move fast with AI Agents, tools, and workflows, but they can’t do it safely. We’re fixing that.

Our team built AI Actions for OpenAI, shipped Zapier Agents to millions of users, and launched the first remote MCP server with Anthropic. We helped establish the protocol, and now we’re building the platform enterprises need to actually put MCP to work.

Runlayer is one platform for MCPs, Skills, and Agents : purpose-built security, fine-grained governance, and complete observability so organizations can go all-in on AI across the entire company without the risk. We just raised a $30M Series A led by Felicis, with participation from Khosla Ventures, bringing our total raised to $42M. Already trusted by Gusto, Instacart, Opendoor, dbt Labs, Cursor, and Decagon.

We’re a team of 35, mostly engineers, shipping fast. Agent operators on Runlayer grew 5x in four weeks while human operators stayed flat. The shift to agentic work is already showing up in our own usage.

About the Role

As our Head of Field Engineering, you’ll build and lead the team responsible for the technical side of Runlayer’s customer motion. You’ll own Forward Deployed Engineering end-to-end, taking the function from three engineers today to ten by year-end and into a multi-region organization in the year that follows.

Why You’ll Thrive Here

• Impact: You will define how Runlayer’s customers move from initial interest to enterprise-wide deployment, owning the team that converts pilots into production at the world’s most demanding companies.

• Excellence: You’ll partner directly with the CEO, CPO, and VP of Go-to-Market to build the technical playbook that takes a customer from first touch to thousands of seats deployed.

• Ownership: You’ll recruit, hire, ramp, and lead the team; build the onboarding program; codify operational standards; and establish the technical best practices that scale with the business.

What You’ll Do

• Build and lead the Forward Deployed Engineering team. Recruit, hire, and onboard the next seven Forward Deployed Engineers, with continued hiring through the following year.

• Establish the onboarding program. Define how new Forward Deployed Engineers ramp on the product, demo motion, pilot execution, and customer engagement standards.

• Bring operational rigor to the existing team. Codify how the team moves a customer from initial interest to a thousand-plus seat deployment, with consistent quality and predictable outcomes.

• Define the technical playbook for enterprise deployments. Develop the practices that govern how Runlayer is integrated, configured, and scaled inside large enterprise environments.

• Partner across the leadership team. Work closely with Go-to-Market, Product, and Engineering leadership on team design, compensation structure, territory model, and customer health.

• Scale the function programmatically. In year two, hire regional leaders, operate through them, and stand up a repeatable execution layer underneath.

What We’re Looking For

• Senior operating experience. Ten or more years of relevant professional experience, including significant time in senior individual contributor and leadership roles within technical, customer-facing organizations.

• Strong technical foundation. A degree in Computer Science or a closely related technical field from a strong undergraduate program.

• Practitioner background. Direct experience as a Forward Deployed Engineer, Solutions Engineer, or in a comparable technical customer-facing capacity. You’ve done the work yourself before leading others doing it.

• Early-stage operating experience. Time spent at an early-stage startup, where you’ve built a function or team from the ground up.

• Experience at a category leader. Time at an established, top-tier technology company (such as Databricks, Snowflake, Palantir, Salesforce, or similar) where you’ve seen world-class execution at scale.

• Proven people leadership. Track record of hiring, managing, and developing high-performing teams of technical individual contributors.

• Independent execution. History of operating successfully in ambiguous, fast-moving environments and delivering against defined outcomes.

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience at a company that reached a meaningful liquidity event, such as an IPO or strategic acquisition.

• Background in revenue operations or sales operations.

• Prior experience as a software engineer.

• Experience managing managers, or a demonstrated trajectory toward that scope.

What We Offer

We provide a competitive package designed to attract and retain top talent who can work effectively with enterprise customers.

• Competitive salary and equity — compensation that reflects your expertise and customer-facing responsibilities.

• Paid time off — paid vacation, paid sick leave, and paid parental leave.

• Professional development — budget for conferences, courses, and certifications in AI, enterprise software, and customer success.

• Top-tier equipment — your choice of laptop and accessories to create your ideal work environment.

• Health benefits — comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage.

• Customer interaction opportunities — work directly with innovative companies and see the immediate impact of your work.