Forward Deployed Engineer

Role Description

Kinaxis is building a Forward Deployed Engineers team whose singular mission is to help customers transform how work gets done in the Agentic Age. This is not a consulting role and it is not a features team. It is a multi-disciplined deployment unit operating with the speed and ownership culture of a startup.

• Own customer solutions end-to-end. Rapidly prototype, iterate, and deploy solutions in live operational environments where the stakes are real and the timeline is short.
• Deliver relentless customer value. Build trusted relationships from the IC level to the executive sponsor and become the technical face of our company in the room.
• Run multiple threads. Carry several customer engagements in parallel based on customer priorities and pod capacity. Set expectations early, renegotiate honestly when reality shifts, operate without close supervision, and own the outcome.
• Operate as a SEAL team. A small, tight, multi-disciplinary unit with focus and urgency; tasks are traded seamlessly to whoever is closest to the skills needed.
• Make the product better. Partner with Product and Engineering to convert field learnings into durable platform capabilities, not one-off scripts.
• Drive adoption and lead the change. Mentor customer operators and guide their teams through solution transitions, so the new way of working actually sticks.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience building LLM-based applications, RAG systems, multi-agent workflows, tool-use patterns, prompt and context engineering.
• Familiarity with modern AI-assisted development tools (Copilot, Claude Code, agentic IDE workflows) as daily practice, not novelty.
• Understanding of agentic orchestration patterns: when to use single vs. multi-agent architectures, how to handle memory and state.
• Solid, hands-on software engineering fundamentals: you have built and shipped real systems, not just scripts.
• Proficiency in at least one backend language (Python strongly preferred) and the ability to read and contribute across a polyglot codebase.
• Experience with REST and streaming APIs, authentication patterns, and integration with enterprise systems.
• Ability to build and maintain data pipelines: ingestion, transformation, serving, and monitoring using tools such as Airflow, Kafka, dbt, or equivalents.
• Working familiarity with modern data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, or similar), including data modeling and performance fundamentals.
• Strong debugging instincts with imperfect, real-world data in production environments.
• Prior exposure to supply chain planning, logistics, or operations domains is a genuine plus (not a requirement).
• 2 – 5 years of professional experience in software engineering, data engineering, solutions engineering, or a technical-founder role. Strong candidates at either end of that range are welcome to apply.
• Prior exposure to customer-facing technical roles: solutions engineering, forward deployment, technical consulting, or a startup where you wore multiple hats is a strong signal, though not a requirement.

Requirements

• You measure your own success in business outcomes: efficiency gains, exception reduction, SLA improvements, not lines of code shipped.
• You bring field learnings back into the platform, helping abstract what works into durable, scalable capabilities.
• You operate with high agency: you unblock yourself, adapt when conditions change, and take ownership end-to-end without requiring close supervision.
• You are curious and pragmatic: you explore new tools and apply them where they create real value, not because they are new.
• You communicate clearly across engineering, product, and business stakeholders: written, verbal, and in the room.
• You move on what matters. You finish what you start. The outcome is yours; no waiting for perfect clarity.
• You identify what matters, secure the help or learning you need, and deliver without being told.
• Every customer, teammate, and new tool is a chance to level up. Not knowing something is fine; refusing to learn it is not.
• You can sit with a frustrated VP, a skeptical architect, or a junior analyst and leave each one feeling heard, helped, and impressed.
• Undefined problem, undefined scope, undefined success metric, and you still ship.
• You guide customers through transitions and mentor their teams to adopt new ways of working.

Benefits

• Flexible vacation and Kinaxis Days (company-wide days off).
• Flexible work options.
• Physical and mental well-being programs.
• Regularly scheduled virtual fitness classes.
• Mentorship programs, training, and career development.
• Recognition programs and referral rewards.
• Hackathons.