Director, Forward Deployment Engineering

The Director, Forward Deployment Engineering leads a customer-facing engineering function that serves as the connective bridge between our customers and our internal teams. This leader owns the rapid, high-quality resolution of complex customer problems across our healthcare technology products and, just as critically, translates customer needs into clear priorities for support, core engineering, and product management-while translating technical realities back into language that customers and executives can act on. Delivering a white-glove experience end to end, the Director builds the relationships, systems, metrics, and talent pipeline that turn problem resolution into a measurable driver of customer trust, product quality, and cross-team alignment. Success in this role is defined less by personally writing code and more by orchestrating people, priorities, and communication across organizational boundaries-partnering closely with Support, Core Engineering, Product Management, Sales, Professional Services, and Customer Success to deliver outcomes customers can feel., * Ensure timely, effective resolution of customer problems, owning the outcome from intake through closure

• Communicate fluently across technical and non-technical audiences, providing real-time, clear communication of problem-resolution status to business, engineering, and executive audiences, and deliver ongoing visibility into performance
• Serve as the primary technical bridge across Support, Core Engineering, Product Management, Professional Services, Customer Success, and other stakeholders to remove blockers and accelerate fixes
• Define, track, and report on SLAs and productivity measures for the problem-resolution process, and use the data to drive continuous improvement
• Deliver a white-glove service experience; set the tone and expectations for that standard across the team
• Build, manage and develop a high-performing team of forward-deployed Tier 3 support analysts who operate in customer-facing settings.
• Participate in customer calls and communications, and travel to customers for the most critical concerns
• Manage and develop a team of Tier 3 support analysts and dedicated support engineers
• Own a personal-development pathway that moves engineers from technical support into core engineering as part of intentional career growth
• Champion, build, or collaborate with engineering on building, automated defect-resolution and triage systems that reduce time-to-resolution and prevent recurrence
• Establish and maintain resolution processes, standards, and best practices that ensure quality and efficiency
• Celebrate, promote, and reward excellence in problem resolution to reinforce a high-performance, customer-obsessed culture
• Hire, train, and mentor to build a high-performing, diverse, and collaborative team
• Stay current with emerging trends, technologies, and best practices in software engineering, customer support, and healthcare IT

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field
• Ten years of experience in software engineering, solutions/technical delivery, or customer facing engineering with five years in a leadership role
• Strong technical foundation- enough to credibly debate architecture with engineers, understand modern software systems (e.g.Java, Python, or C#), and reason through complex production issues
• Demonstrated experience leading customer-facing escalation, Tier 3 support, or problem-resolution functions
• Working knowledge of cloud-based architectures, microservices, APIs, and data management solutions
• Knowledge of agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban), software design patterns, and DevOps/observability practices
• Proven track record of meeting SLAs and delivering resolution outcomes under pressure
• Excellent leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills with the ability to modulate messages across technical and non-technical audiences and build trust with customers, engineers, and executives alike
• Proven ability to build cross-functional relationships and align stakeholders across engineering, product, sales, and customer-facing teams to drive shared outcomes

Desired Skills and Qualifications:

• Advanced degree (MS/PhD) in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field
• Professional certifications in Agile (CSM, SAFe), Cloud (AWS, Azure), or Healthcare IT (CAHIMS)
• Experience building automation, analytics, or AI/ML into defect triage and resolution workflows
• Background in customer support or customer success leadership in a SaaS environment
• Previous experience working in a regulated industry such as healthcare, finance, or government
• Experience partnering with Sales, Product, and Customer Success across the pre- and post-sale lifecycle to shape and deliver solutions
• Contributions to open-source projects, technical blogs, or speaking engagements at industry conferences