Lead Forward Deployed Engineer

Firstshift AI; United States; On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Firstshift AI is building an AI-native supply chain planning and decision intelligence platform. We are seeking a Lead Forward Deployed Engineer to own our most strategic customer deployments end to end—from data wrangling to production-grade solutions on the Supply Chain Canvas.

You will build optimization and ML models, ship GenAI-powered features, and work directly with supply chain and IT leaders as a trusted technical advisor.

Qualifications

• 7+ years across OR, data science, ML engineering, or supply chain analytics
• Hands-on optimization with Gurobi, CPLEX, or OR-Tools
• Practical GenAI chops — building with LLMs, RAG, agentic workflows
• Deep supply chain knowledge and comfort integrating with ERP/planning systems (SAP, Oracle, Kinaxis, o9)
• A track record of leading technical work and communicating it to executives
• Excitement about doing all of the above at an early‑stage, high‑growth startup

Responsibilities

• Lead technical delivery for our most strategic enterprise customers, from discovery to go-live
• Build optimization + ML models and turn them into scenarios and recommendations inside the Supply Chain Canvas
• Ship GenAI-powered features — natural-language querying, agentic workflows, automated root-cause narratives
• Work directly with customer supply chain and IT leaders as a trusted technical advisor
• Lead and mentor a small team of forward deployed engineers
• Shape our product roadmap based on what you see in the field
• Represent Firstshift as a technical voice in the AI x supply chain space

Skills

Operations research

Data science

ML engineering

Supply chain analytics

Customer-facing experience

Team leadership

Tools

Gurobi

CPLEX

OR-Tools

Job description

Supply chains are still run on spreadsheets, static reports, and planning tools built for a world that no longer moves this fast. We're changing that.

Firstshift is building the AI-native supply chain planning and decision intelligence platform — powered by our Supply Chain Canvas, a collaborative workspace where planners visualize their entire network, run scenarios, and act on optimization + generative AI recommendations in real time.

We're looking for a Lead Forward Deployed Engineer to own our most strategic customer deployments end to end — from messy real-world data to production-grade solutions live on the Supply Chain Canvas.

This is a rare role for someone who genuinely sits at the intersection of: Operations research & optimization (LP/MILP, heuristics, solvers) Data science & ML/forecasting (demand sensing, time series, production ML) Generative AI (LLM copilots, RAG, agentic workflows — built directly into the Supply Chain Canvas) Supply chain domain depth (demand planning, inventory, S&OP/IBP, network design)

What you'll do:

• Lead technical delivery for our most strategic enterprise customers, from discovery to go-live
• Build optimization + ML models and turn them into scenarios and recommendations inside the Supply Chain Canvas
• Ship GenAI-powered features — natural-language querying, agentic workflows, automated root-cause narratives
• Work directly with customer supply chain and IT leaders as a trusted technical advisor
• Lead and mentor a small team of forward deployed engineers
• Shape our product roadmap based on what you see in the field
• Represent Firstshift as a technical voice in the AI x supply chain space

What we're looking for:

• 7+ years across OR, data science, ML engineering, or supply chain analytics, with real customer-facing/FDE experience
• Hands‑on optimization skills (Gurobi/CPLEX/OR-Tools) and production ML/forecasting experience
• Practical GenAI chops — building with LLMs, RAG, agentic workflows, prompt engineering
• Deep supply chain domain knowledge and comfort integrating with ERP/planning systems (SAP, Oracle, Kinaxis, o9)
• A track record of leading technical work and communicating it to executives
• Excitement about doing all of the above at an early‑stage, high‑growth startup

If you've been waiting for a role where OR + ML + GenAI + supply chain actually come together — and where your work ships directly into customers' hands — let's talk.

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