Forward Deployed Engineer

We’re working with a fast-growing, well-funded AI startup building technology for a huge global industry that has historically relied on manual, complex and outdated processes.

They’re now looking for a Forward Deployed Engineer to sit directly between their customers and engineering team.

This isn’t a pre-sales or traditional solutions role. You’ll spend roughly 40 to 50% of your time working directly with customers, understanding complex real-world problems and translating those requirements into software. The rest of your time will be spent hands-on building and shipping solutions.

What you'll be doing
Work directly with enterprise customers to understand complex workflows and problems
Translate customer requirements into technical solutions
Build and ship production software end-to-end
Work across frontend, backend, data and AI-powered functionality
Take ownership of customer deployments from problem discovery through to delivery
Feed what you learn from customers directly back into the core product and engineering team
Operate with significant autonomy in a small, exceptionally high-calibre engineering environment

What we're looking for
Ideally, you’ll already have experience working as an FDE, Forward Deployed Software Engineer, Customer Engineer or similar customer-facing engineer within a highly regarded technology business.

We’re particularly interested in people who have:
Around 3+ years of relevant engineering experience
Strong software engineering fundamentals
Experience building production software, not just prototypes
The ability to understand messy customer requirements and turn them into working technology
Confidence communicating directly with senior and non-technical customers
A genuinely engaging, energetic and commercially aware personality
The ability and desire to operate in a very fast-moving startup with significant ownership

Strong TypeScript/React and Python experience would be particularly relevant, as would experience deploying AI or LLM-powered products into production.

We’ll also consider exceptional engineers from top-tier technology companies, startups or quantitative/trading environments who haven't formally held the FDE title but can demonstrate the right combination of engineering ability and customer-facing aptitude.

The environment
This is important.
The company operates with a genuinely high-intensity startup culture. The team is currently working on a 996-style basis and this role will not suit somebody looking for a conventional 9-to-5 environment.

In return, you’ll join at an early stage, work alongside an extremely strong technical team, have substantial ownership over what you build and receive meaningful equity alongside a £100,000 to £150,000 base salary.

Visa sponsorship is available.

If you’re a strong engineer who enjoys being as close to the customer problem as you are to the code, this is an opportunity to have a major impact at an early-stage AI company
Only candidates based in UK and eligible to work in UK are allowed