Forward Deployed Engineer

Diligent; New York (NY); On-site; USD 130,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Influence on product strategy

Work on cutting-edge technologies

Join a team valuing impact and speed

Job summary

A leading tech firm is seeking a hybrid talent to deliver end-to-end prototypes rapidly while confidently engaging with customers' executive teams. This role combines engineering, product, and business development, requiring a strong background in programming languages and customer-facing capabilities. The position offers a salary between $130,000 and $150,000, with a hybrid work model involving onsite work at least 50% of the time, providing an exciting opportunity to influence product strategy.

Qualifications

• 3–5+ years of relevant, post‑college work experience.
• Strong technical ability to build functional, semi‑deployable solutions.
• Comfort working with AI/LLM‑based tools and APIs.

Responsibilities

• Rapidly design, build, and deliver prototypes.
• Partner with sales and business development teams.
• Represent the company in executive‑level meetings.

Skills

Technical hacking and prototyping

Programming languages proficiency (Python, Java, C++, TypeScript/JavaScript)

Customer-facing skills

Communication skills

Ability to operate independently

Job description

Role Summary

We are looking for a rare hybrid talent — someone who can hack together end‑to‑end prototypes at speed while also standing confidently in front of a customer’s executive team. This role sits at the intersection of engineering, product, and business development. One of the first technical faces customers meet, building semi‑deployable prototypes, testing product‑market fit in the wild, and representing us in high‑stakes conversations with senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Rapidly design, build, and deliver end‑to‑end prototypes, demos, and proofs‑of‑concept that help prospects and partners experience the art of the possible.
• Partner with sales and business development teams to identify customer needs, run discovery sessions, and tailor prototypes to demonstrate value.
• Represent the company independently in executive‑level meetings (SVP/C‑level), confidently articulating both technical and business value.
• Act as a forward‑deployed engineer—embedded in customer/partner environments, surfacing insights, validating opportunities, and feeding learnings back into the product roadmap.
• Collaborate cross‑functionally with product, engineering, and marketing to shape product direction and positioning based on real‑world engagements.
• Provide technical guidance during early partnership discussions, including APIs, integrations, cloud deployments, and lightweight AI/LLM‑driven applications.
• Help establish repeatable frameworks, toolkits, and playbooks for scaling pre‑sales prototyping efforts.

Essential Qualifications

• 3–5+ years of relevant, post‑college work experience.
• Strong technical hacking and prototyping ability—proficiency in programming languages such as Python, Java, C++, TypeScript/JavaScript, or similar, and ability to build functional, semi‑deployable solutions across modern stacks.
• Comfort working with AI/LLM‑based tools, APIs, and modern developer ecosystems.
• Excellent customer‑facing skills: discovery, prospecting, business development, and partnership alignment.
• Exceptional executive presence: confident, articulate, and able to hold your own with senior executives.
• Proven ability to operate independently in ambiguous, fast‑changing environments.
• Strong communication skills: able to translate technical complexity into business value.
• Ability and interest to travel up to 25%, as needed to client sites.

Nice to Have

• Experience in technical pre‑sales, forward‑deployment, or field engineering roles.
• Background in B2B SaaS, enterprise software, or early‑stage startups.
• Comfort balancing short‑term prototyping with longer‑term scalability considerations.
• Strong storytelling skills and the ability to craft narratives around prototypes and demos.

Benefits

• Shape the earliest moments of our customer and partner relationships.
• Have direct influence on product strategy by bringing back unfiltered customer insights.
• Work on cutting‑edge technologies while owning high‑visibility projects.
• Join a team that values entrepreneurial thinking, speed, and impact.

U.S pay range: $130,000—$150,000 USD

This role will follow a hybrid work model. Work onsite at least 50% of the time.

We are a drug‑free workplace. Diligent is proud to be an equal‑opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religious creed, sex, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, pregnancy, childbirth, physical disability, mental disability, age, military status, protected veteran status, marital status, registered domestic partner or civil union status, gender (including sex stereotyping and gender identity or expression), medical condition (including, but not limited to, cancer related or HIV/AIDS related), genetic information, or sexual orientation in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. See also Diligent's EEO Policy and Know Your Rights. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at [e-mail].