Forward Deployed Engineer

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Forward Deployed Engineer
Location

New York City, NY

On-site role requiring five days per week in the Flatiron District, New York City.
Compensation

$170,000 - $220,000 Base + Competitive Equity
Visa

US Citizens and Green Card holders only. No visa sponsorship or transfers available.
Company Stage

Early-Stage / Growth-Stage Public Sector Technology Company
Industry

Artificial Intelligence, Government Technology, Public Sector Software, Enterprise Software, Workflow Automation, B2B SaaS, AI-Native Software

About the Company

Our client is building modern software for government agencies, helping state, local, and federal organizations replace decades-old infrastructure with configurable, secure, and modern technology.

The company's platform is designed around the reality that no two government agencies operate exactly the same way. It provides modular software that can be configured around agency-specific workflows and deployed significantly faster than traditional government technology systems.

The company is trusted by hundreds of public sector organizations across state labor and legal agencies, transit authorities, utility districts, higher education institutions, K-12 school districts, county election boards, court systems, and other government organizations.

The team is exceptionally small and highly focused on public sector technology, with a strong emphasis on customer outcomes, rapid execution, and building reusable systems that can compound across deployments.

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you'll work directly with government customers to understand their workflows, design technical solutions, build production software, and deliver systems that modernize critical public services.

This is a highly autonomous, customer-facing engineering role where engineers are expected to own entire projects end-to-end, operate with minimal hand-holding, and combine strong software engineering with customer empathy and product judgment.

What You'll Do

• Own entire customer projects end-to-end from discovery through production delivery
• Meet directly with government clients to understand their operational needs and technical requirements
• Work closely with civil servants and non-technical government stakeholders to understand complex workflows
• Translate ambiguous customer problems into precise technical requirements and software solutions
• Design, build, and deliver modern software systems for state, local, and federal government customers
• Use AI-native coding tools such as Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Factory, and similar tools daily
• Rapidly prototype and iterate on software against live customer requirements
• Build full-stack applications across frontend, backend, data, and workflow systems
• Design reusable software scaffolding, components, data models, and workflows
• Build systems that can be reused and adapted across future customer deployments
• Work with legacy and mainframe data systems and modernize outdated government infrastructure
• Design data models and application architectures that support complex government workflows
• Build backend systems, APIs, and workflow engines
• Develop frontend product experiences for government users
• Integrate modern AI capabilities into customer-facing software where appropriate
• Operate across the technical stack rather than working within a narrowly defined engineering function
• Troubleshoot complex technical and operational problems during customer deployments
• Work directly with customers to validate requirements and iterate on solutions
• Own technical delivery from initial architecture through implementation and deployment
• Balance customer-specific requirements with the need to build reusable and scalable infrastructure
• Identify patterns across deployments and turn them into reusable product capabilities
• Work closely with a Forward Deployed Product Manager on customer engagements
• Partner with internal engineering and product teams to improve deployment methodologies
• Spend approximately 25% of your time in customer-facing work and 75% building software
• Travel periodically to customer sites to understand needs and deliver projects in person
• Visit client sites approximately five days per quarter
• Take responsibility for customer outcomes rather than simply completing assigned engineering tasks
• Operate with high urgency and strong ownership in a fast-moving startup environment
• Make independent technical decisions in ambiguous situations
• Build systems that are secure, reliable, and appropriate for government environments
• Help establish repeatable engineering and deployment practices as the company scales
• Contribute to the company's long-term technical and product strategy through customer learnings

Ideal Candidate Background
Experience Requirements

• 1-5 years of experience as a software engineer preferred
• Experience as a Forward Deployed Engineer or customer-facing software engineer preferred
• Strong software engineering background with production development experience
• Full-stack or backend-focused engineering experience
• Experience building and shipping production software end-to-end
• Experience working directly with customers or business stakeholders preferred
• Experience translating ambiguous requirements into working software
• Experience operating in fast-moving startup environments preferred
• Experience working in loosely defined or ambiguous problem spaces
• Demonstrated ability to independently solve complex technical problems
• Strong ownership mentality with a track record of shipping meaningful projects
• Ability to move quickly from customer problem to technical solution
• Experience building software in environments where requirements evolve rapidly
• Experience working across frontend, backend, and data systems preferred
• Experience working with enterprise or complex organizational customers preferred
• Experience working with legacy systems or complex data environments preferred
• Experience at reputable startups, high-growth technology companies, or similarly demanding environments preferred
• Strong builder mentality and willingness to work across the technical stack

Technical Requirements

• Strong software engineering fundamentals
• Strong production coding experience
• Ability to build and ship full-stack applications
• Strong backend engineering capabilities
• Strong frontend engineering capabilities
• Experience designing and implementing APIs
• Strong understanding of application architecture
• Strong data modeling skills
• Experience building workflow-driven software systems
• Experience working with modern cloud infrastructure
• Experience with AWS or similar cloud platforms
• Comfortable working with legacy systems and modernizing outdated technology
• Experience working with complex data integrations preferred
• Experience building reusable software components and infrastructure
• Comfortable working with AI-native coding tools
• Familiarity with tools such as Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Factory, or similar AI development platforms
• Ability to rapidly prototype and iterate using modern development tools
• Strong debugging and technical problem-solving ability
• Ability to work across frontend, backend, infrastructure, and data layers
• Comfortable deploying and operating production software
• Ability to understand unfamiliar systems quickly
• Strong understanding of software architecture and engineering best practices
• Ability to translate ambiguous customer requirements into reliable software
• Strong technical judgment when deciding what should be built specifically for a customer versus generalized for future deployments
• Ability to design scalable and reusable technical solutions
• Comfortable working with workflow engines and operational systems
• Ability to work with government or enterprise data environments preferred
• Strong understanding of reliability, security, and production considerations

Education

• Bachelor's degree preferred
• Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or equivalent technical disciplines preferred
• Strong technical or quantitative academic background preferred
• Exceptional practical engineering experience can compensate for academic pedigree

Soft Skills

• Extremely high agency and ownership
• Strong bias toward action
• Comfortable operating independently
• Strong builder mentality
• Comfortable working directly with customers
• Strong customer empathy
• Comfortable communicating with non-technical stakeholders
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Excellent problem-solving ability
• Comfortable working through ambiguity
• Fast learner
• Strong technical judgment
• High intensity and urgency
• Comfortable taking responsibility for outcomes
• Strong product intuition
• Strong business judgment
• Able to translate customer problems into technical solutions
• Comfortable balancing customer needs with scalable product thinking
• Comfortable working with limited structure
• Low-ego and highly collaborative
• Comfortable working closely with product and engineering teams
• Comfortable receiving direct customer feedback
• Willing to travel periodically to customer sites
• Excited by working on problems with meaningful public-sector impact
• Comfortable working across engineering, product, and customer-facing responsibilities
• Comfortable working in a small, high-ownership startup team
• Excited by modernizing complex and outdated systems
• Comfortable working onsite five days per week in New York City

Compensation & Benefits

• Base Salary: $170,000 - $220,000
• Competitive equity package
• Opportunity to work directly with state, local, and federal government customers
• Ownership of high-impact customer deployments
• Opportunity to modernize critical public-sector infrastructure
• Opportunity to build production software from the ground up
• Exposure to AI-native software development
• Opportunity to work with modern AI coding tools
• High degree of engineering ownership and autonomy
• Opportunity to work across frontend, backend, data, and workflow systems
• Direct exposure to customer problems and product development
• Opportunity to build reusable technical infrastructure across deployments
• Fast-paced startup environment with significant technical growth
• Opportunity to work closely with product and engineering leadership
• Periodic travel to customer sites
• Five-day in-office environment in New York City

Why Join

This is an opportunity to join a small, high-ownership technology company modernizing some of the most important software infrastructure in the public sector.

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you'll work directly with government customers to understand complex workflows, design technical solutions, and build production software that directly impacts how public services are delivered.

You'll have unusually broad engineering ownership. Rather than receiving narrowly defined tickets, you'll meet customers, understand their problems, design the architecture, write the code, deploy the solution, and own the outcome.

You'll also work at the intersection of modern AI development and legacy government infrastructure, using AI-native coding tools to build and iterate at a pace that would traditionally be difficult in public-sector technology.

The role offers the opportunity to work across the entire stack while developing strong customer-facing, product, and technical skills. You'll also help create reusable components and patterns that compound across future deployments.

If you enjoy full-stack engineering, customer-facing work, solving ambiguous problems, building from scratch, working with modern AI development tools, and having a tangible impact on government services, this role offers exceptional scope and growth.