Senior Forward Deployed Engineer

Socket.dev; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 165,000 - 185,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work setup

Job summary

Inriver is seeking a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer in the United States to lead complex enterprise engagements end-to-end. You will design solutions, mentor engineers, and drive critical integrations across ERP/PLM, DAM, and syndication channels.

You’ll work in a hybrid setup, partnering with customer executives and product leadership to shape roadmaps, while traveling ~20-40% to customer sites as needed. The base pay ranges from $165k to $185k annually.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in software engineering, solutions engineering or equivalent customer-facing roles.
• Strong coding in at least one modern language and ability to design complex integrations.
• Proven experience with REST/GraphQL APIs and enterprise integration patterns at scale.
• Track record of leading technical relationships with enterprise customers.
• Ability to architect data models for large, complex catalogues.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical architecture and delivery strategy for large enterprise engagements.
• Advise customer IT leadership on system integration and landscape fit with Inriver.
• Design and build high-leverage integrations to ERP/PLM, DAM, and channels.
• Model enterprise data structures for catalogue complexity and regulatory needs.
• Lead rapid prototyping to de-risk onboarding and migrations; mentor peers.

Skills

Python

TypeScript

Go

Java

C#

REST/GraphQL APIs

Enterprise integration

AWS/GCP/Azure

Data modeling

Mentorship

Tools

SAP

Oracle

Dynamics

Job description

Inriver is the AI-powered Product Information Management (PIM) platform that helps brands, manufacturers, and retailers turn product data into a growth engine. Inriver connects seamlessly to upstream systems and downstream channels, enabling continuous optimization of product experiences across every touchpoint, and is trusted by more than 1,600 global brands. Our customers — from B2B manufacturers to global retailers — rely on Inriver to manage massive, complex product catalogues and get them to market faster, with less manual rework.

About the role:

We are now looking for a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer to join our team in the United States to lead technical engagements with our most strategic and complex customers. This is a role for someone who can walk into ambiguous, high-pressure enterprise environments and design the right solution — not just execute someone else's plan. This is a new role within our Engineering team, and we’re looking to hire two Senior Forward Deployed Engineers in Malmö and two in the US.

What you’ll do

• Own the technical architecture and delivery strategy for our largest and most complex customer engagements, from discovery through go-live and expansion
• Act as the senior technical advisor to customer engineering and IT leadership — often CTOs, VPs of Digital, or Heads of Data — on how Inriver fits into their broader systems landscape
• Design and build complex, high-leverage integrations and workflows on top of Inriver's platform, connecting it to ERP/PLM systems (SAP, Oracle, Dynamics), DAM, and downstream commerce/syndication channels
• Model elastic, enterprise-scale product data structures (categories, attributes, relationships, localization) for customers with significant catalogue complexity or regulatory requirements
• Lead rapid prototyping efforts to de-risk onboarding, migrations, and pilots for customers with the highest data volume or complexity
• Write production-quality code — platform enhancements, connectors, extensions, internal tools — while also knowing when to bring in additional engineering support and how to scope that work
• Mentor and technically guide other Forward Deployed Engineers, reviewing their solution designs and unblocking them on hard problems
• Serve as a senior technical voice of the customer internally, shaping product and platform roadmap decisions based on patterns across strategic accounts
• Own escalated production issues, leading real-time debugging efforts alongside customer engineering teams
• Travel to customer sites as needed (expect ~20–40% travel depending on account load)

What you’ll bring

We don’t expect you to tick every box - but we think you’ll succeed here if you have many of the below:

• 7+ years of experience in software engineering, solutions engineering, or a related technical/customer-facing role, including experience owning complex technical engagements
• Deep coding skills in at least one modern language (e.g., Python, TypeScript, Go, Java, C#), with the judgment to know when to build vs. when to advise
• Extensive experience with REST/GraphQL APIs, webhooks, and enterprise integration patterns (ETL, middleware, iPaaS) at scale
• Track record of leading technical relationships with enterprise customers — comfortable being the senior voice in the room with customer executives
• Strong ability to reason about complex data models — attributes, taxonomies, relationships — and how they map to messy, real-world enterprise catalogues
• Experience mentoring or technically leading other engineers, even without formal management responsibility
• A bias toward action balanced with the judgment to architect for scale and maintainability, not just the immediate fix
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to translate fluidly between deep technical detail and executive-level strategy
• Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP/Azure) and modern deployment practices at enterprise scale
• High comfort with ambiguity and the ability to bring structure to messy, high-stakes customer environments

Nice to have

• Prior experience with a PIM, MDM, DAM, or product data platform
• Deep experience integrating with ERP or PLM systems
• Experience with ecommerce/marketplace syndication at scale
• Familiarity with compliance-heavy product domains
• Prior experience in a senior forward-deployed, solutions architecture, or professional services leadership role at an enterprise SaaS company
• Experience contributing to pre-sales or solutioning for large enterprise deals

Why Inriver

At Inriver, you’ll join a global company with a product at the centre - and people who genuinely care about building something meaningful together. For this role you will also have ownership of the most technically and strategically important customer relationships in the company, direct line of influence into product and platform roadmap decisions and a seat at the table with both customer executives and product leadership.

We work in a hybrid setup, with flexibility and trust as a baseline.

The estimated pay range for this role is 165,000-185,000 as base salary per annum. The actual base pay for the successful candidate in this role is dependent upon many factors such as location, transferable or job-related skills, work experience, relevant training, business needs.

All full time US employees are eligible to participate in inriver's comprehensive benefit package which include medical, dental, vision, 401K, STD, LTD.

The ideal candidate is located in the following states; Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.