Head of Forward-Deployed AI Engineering

Afresh; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 204,000 - 276,000; Full time

Job summary

Afresh in San Francisco is building the team that embeds AI inside the largest grocers in the US. You’ll lead the forward deployed engineers who integrate with customer data, shipping AI atop it, and you’ll own the technical plan alongside a Deployment Strategist.

This player-coach role focuses on leadership, architecture reviews, and hands-on problem solving when needed. Expect 25–40% travel to customer sites and direct impact on scale.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in software engineering or related field.
• 2+ years managing engineers in a services or forward deployed org.
• Experience leading multi-customer deployments and architectures.
• Fluent in data platforms and AI deployments across enterprise environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead forward deployed engineers, set technical bar and standards for customer work.
• Oversee execution across concurrent customer engagements: what gets built, in what order, and quality.
• Staff engagements across accounts, balancing customer needs, team development and platform needs.
• Run regular 1:1s and invest in career growth for engineers.
• Review architectures and code when required and lead technical discovery with accounts.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Team building

Executive presence

Architectural thinking

Production AI/LLM experience

Tools

SQL

Databricks

BigQuery

Snowflake

Job description

Afresh in San Francisco is building the team that embeds AI inside the largest grocers in the US. You’ll lead the forward deployed engineers who integrate with customer data, shipping AI atop it, and you’ll own the technical plan alongside a Deployment Strategist.

This player-coach role focuses on leadership, architecture reviews, and hands-on problem solving when needed. Expect 25–40% travel to customer sites and direct impact on scale.