Forward Deployed Engineer - AI Inference

Forward Deployed EngineerFriendliAI is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer to assist enterprises in deploying, scaling, and operating generative and agentic AI workloads on FriendliAI infrastructure. You will work directly with customers to solve and implement production-grade applications using our products, such as Serverless Endpoints, Dedicated Endpoints, or Container.Friendli Container is our service that allows customers to download our inference engine as Docker images and deploy it in their chosen environment, such as private clouds or on-premises. Our Friendli Container can be adopted directly to AWS EKS clusters using our EKS add-on product.You will work directly on our customers' projects, collaborating with their engineering teams to solve AI inference challenges like scaling, orchestration, and monitoring. This is a hands-on, customer-embedded role. If you have worked in DevOps, platform engineering, or SRE for AI applications, this is your ideal position.Key ResponsibilitiesDesign and implement large-scale deployment architectures for LLM and multimodal inferenceDeploy and manage containerized workloads across Kubernetes clustersDiagnose production issues, such as performance bottlenecks, and implement temporary fixes as neededCollaborate with customers' DevOps teams to integrate FriendliAI's infrastructure into their CI/CD workflowsDevelop scripts, Helm charts, and Terraform modules that simplify repeated deploymentsContribute field insights to shape our platform reliability, observability, and scaling strategiesLead workshops, technical sessions, or webinars to help customers master infrastructure best practices.Qualifications3+ years of experience in cloud infrastructure, DevOps, or reliability engineeringBachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalentProficiency with Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, and HelmStrong foundation in distributed systems, networking, and performance tuningExperience with GPU-based computing and generative AI model serving workloadsStrong technical background in backend systems or AI toolingExperience operating workloads on AWS, GCP, or OCIExcellent problem-solving and debugging skills in real-world environmentsPreferred ExperienceExperience deploying large models (LLMs, diffusion models) on GPUs or clustersFamiliarity with inference frameworks (Triton, vLLM, TensorRT, DeepSpeed-Inference)Familiarity with observability stacks (Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, ELK, OTEL)Understanding of networking security and compliance frameworks (e.g., SOC 2)Experience supporting on-prem or hybrid-cloud deploymentsBenefitsA front-row seat to the generative AI infrastructure revolutionCompetitive compensation and benefits packageDaily lunch and dinner provided; unlimited snacks and beveragesHealth check-up and top-tier hardware supportFlexible working hours and a highly collaborative environmentFriendliAI is the fastest inference cloud for agents, built to run frontier open-weight models in production at scale. It delivers up to 7x faster output token speed, up to 90% lower inference costs, and 99.99% uptime across the most demanding agent workloads — long-context inference, real-time streaming, and accurate tool calling.We are a small, fast-moving team doing work that matters at one of the most exciting moments in the history of technology. With our world-class inference stack, we are building the platform teams can actually rely on.