Senior Forward Deployed Engineer

F5 Networks, Inc.; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

F5 Networks, Inc. is seeking a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer to accelerate AI/automation across enterprise applications and the SDLC. You will prototype fast, then harden successful solutions for production use, guiding teams on AI patterns and governance.

The role emphasizes building AI-powered internal tools, integrating Salesforce, Oracle, and ServiceNow ecosystems, and delivering measurable outcomes in efficiency and reliability. Hybrid work with on-site presence near Seattle is supported.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering experience, with 3+ years hands-on AI/ML or enterprise automation.
• Fluency in Python for production-grade REST APIs and async patterns.
• Experience shipping production AI and RAG systems.

Responsibilities

• Prototype and ship internal AI tools to raise team throughput: AI-assisted coding workflows, automated code review, test generation, and QA automation.
• Go from idea to MVP quickly; scope, build, demo, test with real users, then harden or kill.
• Roll out and tune AI developer platforms across engineering teams with standards and guardrails.
• Design and deliver AI automation across GTM and RevOps copilots, support triage, and quote-to-cash workflows.
• Lead integrations across Salesforce (Flows, Apex, CPQ) and Oracle apps; build reusable connectors and CI/CD for AI workloads.
• Establish AI engineering standards, mentor engineers, and govern data privacy and security.

Skills

Python

AI/ML systems

Agentic AI

Salesforce

Salesforce CPQ

Oracle Apps

MuleSoft

Workato

Boomi

AWS

Azure

GCP

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

GitHub Actions

AI tooling

Tools

Claude Code

Gemini Enterprise

GitHub Copilot

LangChain

LangGraph

MCP

Job description

At F5, we strive to bring a better digital world to life. Our teams empower organizations across the globe to create, secure, and run applications that enhance how we experience our evolving digital world. We are passionate about cybersecurity, from protecting consumers from fraud to enabling companies to focus on innovation. Everything we do centers around people. That means we obsess over how to make the lives of our customers, and their customers, better. And it means we prioritize a diverse F5 community where each individual can thrive.

Senior Forward Deployed Engineer F5 Digital · Customer Experience Organization

About the Role

The F5 CX Organization builds and runs the enterprise systems behind GTM, Customer Success & Support, RevOps, and Platform Engineering. We are embedding AI into how those systems work, and into how we build them. We are hiring a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer: a hands‑on senior individual contributor who moves from business problem to working prototype fast, then hardens what works into production. Your time splits across two mandates: maturing our enterprise applications with AI and automation, and making our own engineering and product teams measurably faster with AI across the SDLC. This is a greenfield build role, not a sustain‑the‑business role. You will set the technical patterns other engineers follow.

What You’ll Do

• AI for the SDLC & Internal Productivity
  • Prototype and ship internal tools that raise team throughput: AI‑assisted coding workflows, automated code review, test generation and QA automation, and AI drafting of PRDs, user stories, and acceptance criteria
  • Go from idea to MVP in days. Scope it, build it, demo it, get real users on it, then decide to harden or kill
  • Roll out and tune AI developer platforms (Claude Code, Gemini Enterprise, GitHub Copilot, or equivalent) across engineering teams, including standards, prompt and context patterns, guardrails, and adoption
  • Instrument what you build. Cycle time, review latency, defect escape rate, and hours saved, reported as outcomes rather than activity
• Enterprise Applications & Agentic Systems
  • Design and deliver AI automation across business systems: GTM and RevOps copilots, support triage and resolution, quote‑to‑cash automation, and end‑to‑end process workflows
  • Build production agentic systems with LangChain, LangGraph, MCP, or equivalent: multi‑agent orchestration, tool calling, memory management, human‑in‑the‑loop checkpoints, and stateful workflow design
  • Architect enterprise RAG over business and product data: ingestion and chunking strategy, vector store selection, hybrid search and reranking, embedding model management, and eval loops tied to business KPIs
  • Establish prompt engineering as an engineering discipline: versioning, structured output contracts, regression test harnesses, and systematic evaluation
• Integrations & Platform Engineering
  • Lead integration design across Salesforce (Flows, Apex, Agentforce/Einstein), Oracle applications, ServiceNow/Zendesk, MuleSoft/Workato, and internal APIs
  • Build the reusable connector library and self‑serve intake path so new use cases onboard without bespoke work every time
  • Own CI/CD for AI workloads: automated eval gates, model and prompt versioning, deployment orchestration, and rollback strategy
  • Keep production AI observable and reliable through monitoring, alerting, and data integrity practices (Datadog, Splunk, or equivalent)
• Technical Leadership & Responsible AI
  • Define AI engineering standards for the CX organization: coding patterns, RAG design, eval practices, integration patterns, and documentation
  • Mentor AI, automation, and prompt engineers through design reviews, pair engineering, and structured feedback
  • Partner with Enterprise Architecture and governance review boards so systems meet security, privacy, and AI ethics requirements.
  • Identify and mitigate model bias, and handle PII and prompt injection risk deliberately
  • Present architectures, trade‑offs, and ROI clearly to senior leadership and non‑technical partners

What You’ll Bring

• 8+ years of software engineering experience, including 3+ years hands‑on with AI/ML systems, LLM application engineering, or enterprise intelligent automation
• Expert Python: production‑quality code, REST API design, async patterns, and reusable framework design
• Production agentic AI and RAG systems you have shipped and operated, not demos.
• Fluency with retrieval strategy, eval design, and the failure modes of both
• Strong enterprise business systems background, with hands‑on Salesforce (Flows, Apex, CPQ, and/or Agentforce/Einstein) and familiarity with Oracle application stacks
• Experience with enterprise integration platforms (MuleSoft, Workato, Boomi, or equivalent) across distributed SaaS ecosystems
• Cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), CI/CD (GitHub Actions or equivalent), secrets management, and least‑privilege access
• Daily hands‑on use of AI coding and productivity tooling in your own workflow
• Working knowledge of GTM, RevOps, and CX business processes, with the ability to turn a vague business ask into a scoped technical design
• A bias toward shipping: you prototype to learn, measure what you ship, and drive problems to resolution without waiting for permission

Nice to Have

• Oracle and/or Salesforce development at enterprise scale; Architect‑level certification
• LLM security: prompt injection defense, data leakage prevention, output filtering, PII handling in production pipelines
• ServiceNow or Zendesk AI for intelligent ITSM automation: auto‑triage, severity classification, SLA routing
• AWS serverless and integration services (Lambda, API Gateway, Step Functions, EventBridge, SQS)
• HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, or similar secrets tooling
• Experience in a platform engineering, shared services, or federated AI operating model

The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all‑inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change.

The annual base pay for this position is: $120,000.00 - $180,000.00. F5 maintains broad salary ranges for its roles in order to account for variations in knowledge, skills, experience, geographic locations, and market conditions, as well as to reflect F5’s differing products, industries, and lines of business. The pay range referenced is as of the time of the job posting and is subject to change. You may also be offered incentive compensation, bonus, restricted stock units, and benefits. More details about F5’s benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.f5.com/company/careers/benefits. F5 reserves the right to change or terminate any benefit plan without notice. Please note that F5 only contacts candidates through F5 email address (ending with @f5.com) or auto email notification from Workday (ending with f5.com or @myworkday.com).

Equal Employment Opportunity It is the policy of F5 to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants without regard to unlawful considerations of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, sensory, physical, or mental disability, marital status, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other classification protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws. This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, discipline, and termination. F5 offers a variety of reasonable accommodations for candidates. Requesting an accommodation is completely voluntary. F5 will assess the need for accommodations in the application process separately from those that may be needed to perform the job. Request by contacting [e-mail].

Hybrid: Employees within 30 commutable miles of an F5 office are required to work from the office a minimum of 30 business days per quarter. Remote: Primarily work from designated home location but can come into an F5 office to work or travel to an offsite location as needed.

Together, we’re building a better digital world. Founded in 1996, F5 is a global leader in application delivery and security. Our premier platform helps customers secure and deliver every app, API, and piece of infrastructure across all environments. Backed by over three decades of expertise and 553 patents, our solutions protect against threats while ensuring fast, reliable digital experiences. With over 6,400 employees, we serve more than 23,000 customers in over 170 countries. To continue this work, we need people like you—the best minds in the industry. We’re committed to a unique, human‑first culture that encourages authenticity, prioritizes diversity and inclusion, and fosters the growth and success of our employees.