Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, AI-Native Public Sector Systems

People In AI; New York (NY); On-site; USD 175,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

People In AI is seeking a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer to own the technical final mile between a reusable core platform and each customer’s systems, data, and workflows. You’ll work with Forward Deployed Product Managers to turn ambiguous requirements into secure, production-ready software, while identifying patterns for reusable platform capabilities.

You’ll design integrations across legacy databases, APIs, on-premise systems, and operational workflows, and drive tooling improvements.

Qualifications

• Strong software engineering fundamentals and end-to-end shipping experience.
• Deep backend skills with architecture, APIs, databases, integrations, and reliability.
• Ability to move between high-level system design and detailed implementation.
• Clear communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• US citizenship required for certain government work.

Responsibilities

• Build and ship production software across customer deployments.
• Design integrations with legacy databases, APIs, on-premise systems, and operational workflows.
• Translate messy requirements into clear technical designs and working systems.
• Decide what should remain customer-specific versus become reusable platform functionality.
• Improve internal tooling, abstractions, and engineering primitives across deployments.
• Use AI coding tools to increase velocity without sacrificing technical judgment, security, or quality.
• Own software through production, including failures, edge cases, and reliability improvements.

Skills

Software engineering

Backend architecture

APIs

Data integrations

Reliability

AI coding tools

Stakeholder communication

Ownership

Tools

Claude Code

Codex

Gemini CLI

Job description

Compensation: $175,000–$200,000 base + equity

Location: New York City — on-site, 5 days per week

Travel: Up to ~20%

Employment Type: Full-time

An early-stage AI-native software company modernizing the systems that power essential public services.

The Company

We’re partnering with a fast-growing technology company replacing fragmented government systems with configurable, AI-enabled software.

Rather than building frontier models, the team applies modern AI and strong software engineering to complex real-world workflows, legacy infrastructure, and mission-critical public services.

The Role

As a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, you’ll own the technical final mile between a reusable core platform and each customer’s systems, data, and workflows.

You’ll work closely with Forward Deployed Product Managers to turn ambiguous requirements into secure, production-ready software — while identifying patterns that can be abstracted into reusable platform capabilities.

What You’ll Do

• Build and ship production software across customer deployments.
• Design integrations with legacy databases, APIs, on-premise systems, and operational workflows.
• Translate messy requirements into clear technical designs and working systems.
• Decide what should remain customer-specific versus become reusable platform functionality.
• Improve internal tooling, abstractions, and engineering primitives across deployments.
• Use AI coding tools to increase velocity without sacrificing technical judgment, security, or quality.
• Own software through production, including failures, edge cases, and reliability improvements.

What You’ll Bring

• Strong software engineering fundamentals and experience shipping meaningful systems end-to-end.
• Deep backend skills with solid instincts around architecture, APIs, databases, integrations, and reliability.
• Ability to move between high-level system design and detailed implementation.
• Strong product and technical judgment in ambiguous environments.
• Experience using AI coding tools such as Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, or similar.
• Clear communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• High ownership, low ego, and comfort operating at startup pace.
• US citizenship, required for certain government work.
• Ability to work in NYC five days per week.
• SQL and legacy data systems
• APIs and complex integrations
• Workflow and agentic orchestration
• Internal tooling and reusable software primitives

Why Join?

• Join early enough to shape architecture, tooling, and engineering culture.
• Solve varied technical problems across real-world public-sector systems.
• Work directly on software that reaches production and supports essential services.
• Combine meaningful technical ownership with strong startup upside and equity.