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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Forward Deployed Software Engineer - **Company:** The Hire - **Location:** San Francisco, CA, United States - **Experience:** Experienced - **Salary:** $185,000.0 - $240,000.0 - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Artificial Intelligence, Encodings, Data Infrastructure, Python (Programming Language), Machine Learning, Standard Sql, Software Engineering, TypeScript, Working Model 2D, ReactJS, Large Language Models, Backend, Event Driven Architecture, Front End Software Development - **Published:** September 25, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.juju.com/job/16_cf0f5134 ## About the Role * Have approximately three to six years of full-stack, product-engineering or forward-deployed engineering experience * Have shipped an LLM-powered or agentic system used by real customers * Can explain how you evaluated its outputs, handled failures and controlled autonomous actions * Can build across frontend, backend, data and integration layers * Have strong proficiency in TypeScript or Python, React and SQL * Have worked in an early-stage or high-growth software environment * Can translate an unclear operational problem into a focused technical solution * Enjoy working directly with customers, operators and senior executives * Communicate clearly without losing technical depth * Prefer broad ownership over narrowly defined tickets * Want accountability for business outcomes, not just code delivery Experience as a Forward Deployed Engineer, founding engineer, product engineer or customer-facing software engineer is valuable, but the exact title is not important. We care about what you personally built and whether it worked in production. ## This role is probably not right for you if * Your AI experience is limited to hackathons, demonstrations or internal experiments * You have used AI coding assistants but have not built AI into a production product * Your experience is exclusively frontend, backend, mobile or ML research * You prefer receiving completely defined requirements before beginning work * Your customer-facing experience primarily involves presentations or pre-sales demonstrations * You want to hand a system off immediately after launch * You are uncomfortable being accountable for software operating in live environments * You do not want regular onsite collaboration or travel ## Description A well-funded, rapidly growing software company is hiring Forward Deployed Engineers to build and deploy production-grade agentic software across a portfolio of operating businesses. This is not a pre-sales, implementation or prototype-building position. You will identify consequential operational problems, design the technical solution and personally ship the system into production. You will remain accountable after launch, improving reliability, evaluation quality and autonomy until the software produces measurable business results. The role combines the ownership of a founding engineer with the customer proximity of a forward deployed engineer. You will move between ambiguous business problems, full-stack development, AI-agent architecture, enterprise integrations and direct conversations with company leadership. ## What you will build You will create intelligent systems that automate complex operational workflows. A typical deployment may involve: * Embedding with an operating company to understand its workflows, systems and constraints * Identifying the highest-leverage opportunities for applied AI * Defining the initial technical wedge and measurable success criteria * Building integrations, agent logic, tools, prompts, evaluations and user interfaces * Establishing autonomy levels, approval gates and human-in-the-loop controls * Deploying the system into live operations * Monitoring performance and investigating failures * Improving reliability through evaluations, observability and user feedback * Turning successful deployment patterns into reusable product capabilities The objective is not to produce an impressive demonstration. It is to build software that people trust enough to use in critical business workflows. ## Technical environment You should be comfortable owning a system across the entire stack rather than operating within one narrow layer. The environment includes: * TypeScript and Python * React * SQL * LLMs and foundation-model APIs * Agentic workflows and tool-calling systems * Evaluation frameworks and outcome tracking * Autonomy gating and human approval controls * Event-driven systems * Modern data platforms * Enterprise APIs and operational integrations We care more about your ability to make strong architectural decisions and ship reliable systems than whether you have already used every component in the stack. ## What makes this role different Most AI engineers work several layers away from the problem they are solving. Here, you will see the operational problem directly, determine what should be built and own the result in production. You will have the freedom and responsibility to: * Scope technically ambiguous problems without waiting for a complete specification * Decide where deterministic software ends and agentic behavior begins * Build evaluations that reflect business outcomes rather than superficial benchmarks * Determine when an agent can act autonomously and when human approval is necessary, The company is building a model in which engineers have unusually direct influence over business operations. A successful system built for one operating company can be converted into a reusable capability across multiple businesses. Your work therefore combines the immediacy of customer deployment with the compounding impact of platform engineering. The technical patterns are still being established. Engineers joining now will help define how the company discovers opportunities, builds agentic systems, measures performance and scales successful deployments. This is an opportunity for someone who wants to build consequential software, work close to the customer and see exactly how their engineering decisions affect real-world outcomes. ## Location and working model The role can be based in New York, San Francisco or Toronto. Engineers should expect meaningful in-person collaboration and regular domestic travel to operating-company locations, potentially two or three days per week depending on the deployment. ## Related Videos - [A Brief History of Data Storage](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/974-a-brief-history-of-data-storage) - [Developing the Backend with Stefan Lingler, CTO at Shpock](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100360-developing-the-backend-with-stefan-lingler-cto-at-shpock) - [Watch Tests Go Brrrr! : Getting Started with Cypress in ReactJS](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/282-watch-tests-go-brrrr-getting-started-with-cypress-in-reactjs) - [Shipping Faster with Less: Render on Cloud Hosting, AI Workloads, and the Future of DevOps](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1894-shipping-faster-with-less-render-on-cloud-hosting-ai-workloads-and-the-future-of-devops) - [JSON and Beyond](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/968-json-and-beyond) - [Nest.js - TypeScript in the backend can also be clean](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1033-nest-js-typescript-in-the-backend-can-also-be-clean) ## Related Articles - [Navigating the AI Shift](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/629-navigating-the-ai-shift) - [How to Become an AI Engineer](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/331-how-to-become-an-ai-engineer) - [How to Answer the Interview Question: “Why Do You Want to Be a Software Engineer?”](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/392-how-to-answer-the-interview-question-why-do-you-want-to-be-a-software-engineer) - [What is Software Engineering in the Age of AI?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/640-what-is-software-engineering-in-the-age-of-ai) - [Fully Remote Software Engineer Jobs](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/447-fully-remote-software-engineer-jobs) - [Is Software Engineering Over-Saturated?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/418-is-software-engineering-over-saturated)