Head of Forward-Deployed Engineering & Services

Vercel; United States; Hybrid; USD 240,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Healthcare

Mentorship & Events

Flexible Time Off

WFH gear budget

Job summary

Vercel is seeking a Director of Forward Deployed Engineering to build and lead the Forward Deployed Engineering and Professional Services function. You will embed with strategic customers to design, build, and ship production apps using Next.js, AI SDK, and v0, guiding projects from prototype to production rollout.

You will report to the VP of Field Engineering in a hybrid role based in San Francisco, Austin or New York, with a required 3 days per week in office.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in software engineering or related roles.
• At least 5 years leading customer-facing engineering or delivery teams.
• Experience building a team or service line from zero.
• Strong background in modern web technologies: JavaScript/TypeScript, React, Next.js, Node.js, cloud infrastructure.
• Experience building or deploying LLM-powered applications.
• Commercial acumen: scoped, priced, and delivered engagements for enterprise customers.
• Demonstrated success embedding with customer engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead the Forward Deployed Engineering team, including hiring standards, training, and career development.
• Define the engagement model and determine accounts suitable for embedded support.
• Own delivery excellence from discovery to production deployment and stabilization.
• Establish the professional services commercial model, pricing, and capacity planning.
• Remain hands-on with architecture reviews and critical engagements alongside the team.
• Define clear handoff protocols between functions and partners.
• Codify field learnings into repeatable playbooks and reference architectures.
• Synthesize customer insights into product feedback and report outcomes to leadership.

Skills

JavaScript/TypeScript

React

Next.js

Node.js

Cloud infrastructure

LLM-powered apps

Delivery leadership

Customer-facing engineering

Job description

Vercel is seeking a Director of Forward Deployed Engineering to build and lead the Forward Deployed Engineering and Professional Services function. You will embed with strategic customers to design, build, and ship production apps using Next.js, AI SDK, and v0, guiding projects from prototype to production rollout.

You will report to the VP of Field Engineering in a hybrid role based in San Francisco, Austin or New York, with a required 3 days per week in office.