Forward Deployed AI Engineer (.NET)

Continuum Solutions; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading enterprise AI company in Houston seeks a Technical Leader with expertise in C#/.NET to drive client engagement and deliver real-world AI solutions. The ideal candidate has extensive experience in technical leadership, is familiar with cloud architecture, and possesses a proven track record in high-scrutiny environments. Responsibilities include leading technical conversations, developing proofs-of-concept, and owning enterprise engagements. A strong presence as a trusted advisor is essential in this role.

Qualifications

• Strong track record as a paid software engineer.
• Deep, hands-on C#/.NET experience.
• Ability to operate in high-scrutiny environments.
• Broad technical knowledge across cloud fundamentals.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical discovery and architecture conversations.
• Build proofs-of-concept that become real implementations.
• Own technical workstreams on major enterprise engagements.
• Collaborate with the core product team for client outcomes.

Skills

C#/.NET experience

Client-facing ability

Cloud architecture knowledge

Problem-solving skills

Job description

Overview

We’re an enterprise AI company working with Fortune 100-500 clients to deliver production-grade AI solutions inside real-world environments. Demand is growing quickly, and expectations are high. This hire is a revenue-generating, client-facing technical leader; someone who can walk into a room with a VP, earn trust fast, handle scrutiny from senior IT teams, and then sit down and build.

This is not a research role. It is not a “prompt-only” role. It’s for a builder who can lead delivery and ship.

What you’ll do

Client-facing technical leadership

• Lead technical discovery, architecture conversations, and solution design with enterprise stakeholders (VP/CIO-level) and hands‑on technical teams.
• Present and defend technical decisions in high‑scrutiny environments - calmly, clearly, and with substance.
• Build credibility quickly with client teams who may be skeptical or feel threatened by change.

Hands‑on engineering (C#/.NET is essential)

• Build proofs‑of‑concept that become real implementations - not demo‑ware.
• Develop integrations and solution components in C#/.NET (APIs, services, workflows, and supporting infrastructure).
• Deliver with production discipline: clean interfaces, reliable builds, and repeatable deployment patterns.
• Be the person who can answer cloud architecture questions on the spot and map equivalents across platforms when clients ask.
• Work comfortably with container compute, messaging/eventing, networking, and load balancing patterns across AWS and Azure.

Delivery ownership

• Own technical workstreams on major enterprise engagements—over time, this role can lead projects that represent significant annual revenue.
• Context‑switch rapidly: expect a rhythm of ~50% meetings / ~50% heads‑down build time once ramped.
• Collaborate with the core product team, but note: this role is primarily using the product to deliver client outcomes, not building core product day‑to‑day.

What success looks like

• First 30 days: ramp into a complex framework, learn how we deliver, and start contributing to POCs with support.
• 60‑90 days: own a POC and client workstream end‑to‑end; leading conversations and shipping real deliverables.
• Longer‑term: run major enterprise implementations as the “person in the room” clients trust technically.

What we’re looking for

Must have

• A strong track record as a paid software engineer (not academic‑only or hobby‑only).
• Deep, hands‑on C#/.NET experience building production systems.
• Proven ability to operate in client‑facing, high‑scrutiny environments where recommendations get challenged.
• Broad technical coverage across modern cloud and engineering fundamentals (compute, networking, containers, messaging, load balancing, CI/CD).
• A “trusted advisor” presence: when you speak, people believe you because you can back it up.

Must‑have technical fluency (examples you should know cold)

We don’t expect perfection across every service, but you should be genuinely fluent in modern cloud architecture and be able to speak in equivalents across platforms, including topics like:

• Foundation model platforms: what AWS Bedrock is and when you’d use it (and how you’d approach similar patterns in Azure).
• Container compute: AWS ECS/Fargate and how you’d compare/choose container options in Azure (e.g., AKS / managed container approaches).
• Load balancing: which load balancers are used in AWS and Azure (and what you’d pick for common scenarios).
• Messaging/eventing: AWS pub/sub concepts and Azure equivalents - e.g., AWS SNS ↔ Azure Service Bus (and how you’d architect around it in real systems).

Ideal background

• 5‑7+ years in a consulting‑style environment (or equivalent), where you routinely led technical conversations with senior stakeholders and delivered under pressure.

Traits we value highly

• Inquisitive by nature; enjoys learning complex frameworks and doing this kind of work outside the job.
• Comfortable being the person everyone turns to for technical answers.
• Pleasant, grounded personality; someone clients enjoy working with (not brilliant‑but‑difficult).

Location & travel

• Houston strongly preferred. The best ramp happens by working closely with leadership and in the environments where we’re already successful.
• Travel outside of Houston is possible (e.g., occasional day trip for a presentation), but it is not frequent and not a weekly requirement.