Forward Deployed Engineer

Workstream is a mission-driven company building the all-in-one HR, payroll, and hiring platform for managing the hourly workforce. There are 2.7 billion hourly workers, making up 80% of the global workforce, but this market has been heavily underserved by technology and deserves better. Workstream has been purpose-built for the hourly workforce from day one so that these businesses and their employees can thrive.

Our customers include leading brands from multiple sectors, including Burger King, Carl's Jr./Hardee's, IHOP, KFC, and Culvers. We are a high growth series B company and quickly expanding our product portfolio to deliver on our vision. We are backed by legendary VCs and industry experts like Founders Fund, BOND, and Coatue.

In addition to our core business, Workstream is home to a small, fast-moving Robotics team focused on advancing the next generation of artificial intelligence and robotics. We partner with a leading AI and robotics company to produce high-quality, large-scale egocentric (first-person) video datasets that help train advanced AI models.

Our Robotics team develops scalable data collection and annotation pipelines that enable the efficient creation of high-quality training datasets, helping AI systems better understand human actions, environments, and everyday interactions. We're also building a new category of connected hardware designed to operate reliably throughout the day in thousands of homes and businesses. By combining cutting-edge data collection, automation, and hardware innovation, this team is helping shape the future of intelligent systems and real-world AI applications.

Grow With Us

We are looking for a highly technical, customer-obsessed, and execution-driven Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to bridge the gap between Workstream's product platform and our customers' most complex operational challenges.

In this role, you will operate at the intersection of engineering, product, and customer deployment-embedding deeply with strategic customers to design, build, and deploy high-impact technical solutions that drive measurable business outcomes. You will own end-to-end deployments from discovery and technical scoping through implementation, iteration, and scaled adoption.

This is a high-ownership role for engineers who thrive in ambiguity, move quickly from prototype to production, and want to solve real-world business problems rather than just build in abstraction. You will work directly with customers, internal product and engineering teams, and executive stakeholders to shape deployment strategy while identifying reusable patterns that influence Workstream's broader platform roadmap. This structure mirrors leading forward-deployed models where engineers embed closely with customers, ship quickly, and feed field insights back into core product development.

This is a full-time, hybrid role requiring presence 3 days a week in our Menlo Park office to foster close collaboration with cross-functional teams.
Why This Role Is Different

This is not traditional software engineering, sales engineering, or implementation support. Forward Deployed Engineers at Workstream act more like startup operators or technical mini-GMs for strategic deployments-owning customer outcomes, shipping production systems quickly, and shaping the future product through execution. The best candidates are engineers who want to build, deploy, and influence product direction simultaneously.

Day In The Life

• Own technical delivery across strategic customer deployments from initial discovery through production launch and long-term adoption
• Embed closely with enterprise customers to understand workflows, operational pain points, and technical requirements
• Scope, architect, and build custom solutions, integrations, workflows, and product extensions that deliver measurable customer value
• Write production-grade code across backend, frontend, APIs, integrations, or automation layers as needed to accelerate deployment
• Translate ambiguous customer problems into structured technical roadmaps and execution plans
• Partner cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Sales, Customer Success, and Leadership to align deployments with business priorities
• Make trade-offs between speed, scope, scalability, and productization while protecting customer outcomes
• Identify repeatable deployment patterns and convert one-off customer solutions into scalable product capabilities
• Serve as a strategic technical advisor to customers, helping shape adoption, implementation strategy, and long-term success
• Surface field learnings, customer pain points, and deployment insights back to Workstream's core product roadmap

Who You Are

• 4+ years of experience in robotics, computer vision, machine learning, data science or model building
• Strong full-stack technical capability (Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, APIs, SQL, integrations, or similar)
• Proven ability to own and deliver complex technical projects in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
• Experience working directly with customers or external stakeholders on technical implementations
• Exceptional problem-solving skills with a bias toward action and first-principles thinking
• Ability to move quickly from prototype to production while maintaining quality
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills across technical and non-technical audiences
• High ownership mindset with pride in end-to-end accountability
• Comfort balancing immediate customer needs with long-term scalable product thinking

Nice To Have

• Experience in HR tech, SaaS, payroll, hiring, or workforce management platforms
• Background in forward deployed engineering, solutions architecture, implementation engineering, or technical consulting
• Experience building integrations, workflow automation, or AI-powered operational tools
• Familiarity with enterprise deployments, APIs, data pipelines, or systems architecture
• Previous experience at high-growth startups, Palantir-style deployment teams, or customer-facing product engineering organizations

What We Offer

• A mission-driven and value-based company dedicated to empower deskless workers and local businesses
• An early employee opportunity at a Series B hyper-growth startup; work with the founding team and industry veterans to accelerate your career
• Competitive salary and equity
• Comprehensive health coverage: medical, dental, and vision. We pay 95% of your premiums for our employees and 85% for dependents
• In office amenities and stocked kitchen
• 401K Plan
• Pre-tax commuter benefits
• Learning/development stipend
• Flexible PTO

Salary Range

In compliance with the California Pay Transparency Law, the base salary range for this role is between $150,000 to $180,000 base in Menlo Park. This range is not inclusive of our discretionary bonus or equity package. When determining a candidate's compensation, we consider a number of factors including skillset, experience, job scope, and current market data.

Know More About Workstream
Additional Information

Workstream provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.


We are committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals.