Staff Forward Deployed Engineer - Applied AI (Remote)

Rula; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work environment

Pay transparency of ranges

Comprehensive health benefits

401(k) plan

Generous time-off

Paid parental leave

EAP

Department stipend

Home office stipend

Wellness stipend

Job summary

Rula, a remote-first mental health company, is seeking a Staff Forward Deployed Engineer to partner with clinical and product teams, building tools that dramatically cut manual work time. You’ll ship end-to-end solutions, stay with teams until tools run autonomously, and translate learnings into reusable building blocks, all with privacy by design at the core.

You’ll bring 8+ years shipping production systems, a proven record of delivering tools used weekly, and a thoughtful approach to

Qualifications

• 8+ years shipping production-quality software with end-to-end ownership.
• Proven delivery of tools used weekly by teams, with telemetry.
• Deep experience learning operational workflows before designing software solutions.
• Daily use of coding agents with privacy-by-design standards.

Skills

8+ years experience

Rapid tool delivery

Customer-centric discovery

AI-fluency & engineering workflow

Job description

We believe that mental health is just as important as physical health. We recognize that mental health issues can be complex and multifaceted, and we are dedicated to treating the whole person, not just the symptoms.

We aim to create a world where mental health is no longer stigmatized or marginalized, but rather is embraced as an integral part of one's overall well-being.

We believe that by providing quality care that is both evidence-based and compassionate, we can empower individuals to take charge of their mental health and achieve their full potential. We are passionate about making a positive impact on the lives of those struggling with mental health issues and we strive to be a force for positive change in the field of mental healthcare.

Rula is a remote-first company. We currently hire in most U.S. states, with the exception of Hawaii.

About the Role

Rula's business and clinical teams lose hours every week to manual work, and we want AI to give that time back. As a Staff Forward Deployed Engineer, you will sit with a team, learn how the work actually gets done, and ship tools they use every week, often turning a six-to-eight-hour task into under thirty minutes. You stay until the team runs each tool on its own, then turn what you learned into building blocks that help the next team move faster. Because we serve patients in mental health care, privacy is part of the design from day one.

Required Qualifications

• Experience & Ownership: 8+ years shipping production-quality software systems (consumer or business) with end-to-end ownership of outcomes.

• Rapid Tool Delivery: Proven track record of shipping tools or products used weekly by customers or business teams, supported by usage telemetry.

• Customer-Centric Discovery: Deep experience learning operational workflows through observation, interviews, or data before designing software solutions.

• AI-Fluency & Engineering Workflow: Daily use of coding agents (specifying, testing, and reviewing output diffs) with rigorous evaluation practices (test sets, evals) and privacy-by-design standards (synthetic/masked data, isolating clinical content from operational tools)

Preferred Qualifications

While having the preferred qualifications enhances your candidacy, having all of them is not mandatory. We encourage all interested applicants to apply, even those who may not meet every preferred requirement.

• Measurement Infrastructure: Experience building custom measurement frameworks for cost, usage, and impact tracking when standard vendor dashboards were unavailable.

• Forward-Deployed Experience: Direct prior experience being forward-deployed to non-engineering business teams or external customer organizations.

• Model & Cost Optimization: Practical experience migrating systems across different LLM models to optimize costs while maintaining quality guardrails.

• Integration with Legacy/Messy Systems: Proven ability to integrate AI into complex business platforms with imperfect data/APIs (e.g., CRM, billing, scheduling).

• Technical Enablement: Track record of coaching non-engineering team members to build or adopt software workflows independently.

We're serious about your well-being! As part of our team, full-time employees receive:

• 100% remote work environment: Working hours to support a healthy work-life balance, ensuring you can meet both professional and personal commitments (must be based in United States, currently not hiring in Hawaii)

• Attractive pay and benefits: Full transparency of pay ranges regardless of where you live in the United States

• Comprehensive health benefits: Medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and FSA/HSA

• 401(k) plan access: Start saving for your future

• Generous time-off policies: Including 2 company-wide shutdown weeks each year for self-care (for most employees)

• Paid parental leave: Available for all parents, including birthing, non-birthing, adopting, and fostering

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Supporting your mental and physical health

• Quarterly department stipend: Fun team-building activities or in-person gatherings

• Community and employee resource groups: Participate in groups that celebrate employee identity and lived experiences, fostering a sense of community and belonging for all

• Home office stipend: New hire home office stipend & $50 monthly stipend to help cover internet or cell phone expenses

• Wellness at Rula program: Year-round wellness initiatives and a $50/month wellness stipend

Our team

We believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion are fundamental to our mission of making mental healthcare work for everyone. We are dedicated to having a culture of inclusion that will support our employees in feeling safe, seen, heard, and valued.