Forward Deployed Engineer

Candidates must be located in the Houston metro. In addition to your resume, please submit your video screening. Role SummaryYou won't be handed tickets from a backlog written by someone else. You'll sit with the customer, watch how the work actually gets done, prototype in the loop with the people who'll use it, and productionize what works owning meaningful slices of real products end to end. We're a team of about ten building custom software for industrial operations in an AI-accelerated world, and we're doing it by putting engineers closer to the customer, not further away. The work you own is visible, the decisions you make carry, and the people who depend on what you build will know your name. Who We Are Valorian builds intelligence systems for industrial operations by integrating data, systems, and AI designed around how work actually gets done in the field. Our customers run petrochemical plants and field operations where visibility, safety, and efficiency have real consequences. Our products replace spreadsheets, paper, and disconnected systems with software shaped around their actual workflow, built on a shared platform: React/Next.js and TypeScript on the front end, Node.js/Fastify APIs, PostgreSQL via Prisma, and Azure underneath. What You'll Own Time with customers every week working sessions, demos, and on-site visits observing real workflows and turning what you learn into well-scoped tickets with crisp acceptance criteria. Fast prototypes built alongside customers and our Product/Project Managers to validate direction, then hardened into production-grade features.Vertical slices end to end: React/Next.js (TypeScript) front ends, Node.js/Fastify APIs, and PostgreSQL via Prisma.The written record the team inherits: workflow and integration diagrams, data models, decision rules, and Architecture Decision Records for the calls that matter.Our shared ontology and data models as new customer domains come into scope reconciling conflicting sources of truth and naming things once, well. Testing for your work unit, API, and Playwright end-to-end wired into CI/CD so regressions surface before a customer finds them.Contributions to Valorian's Design System and shared packages, so what you learn on one product compounds across all of them.How we use AI: agents as leverage across spec, implementation, and testing, and a voice in which emerging tools earn a place in the team's daily practice. What Good Looks Like By 90 days: you've participated meaningfully in customer sessions, shipped your first vertical slice to production, and can describe a customer's workflow more accurately than the ticket does. By six months: you own a product area end to end, customers ask for you by name, and change orders on your work are small because you validated before you built. You've earned the right to solve bigger problems for them. By a year: your contributions are load-bearing for the team, and you're influencing what we build next not just how it gets built. What We're Looking For You've built and shipped full-stack TypeScript products React/Next.js, Node, and a relational database and can point to work running in production You're comfortable in the room with customers: leading a working session, asking the uncomfortable question early, and saying so when what's being asked for isn't advisable You can model a business domain and write it down clearly enough that a customer confirms it's right and an engineer can build from it You design APIs thoughtfully (auth, pagination, error handling, rate limiting) and treat data models, migrations, and security as the places to slow down and think You keep test suites meaningful in CI unit, API, and end-to-end rather than green by deletion You reach for shared, reusable solutions over re-solving the same problem on every projectYou're curious about AI tooling and have the judgment to tell real leverage from novelty Nice to Have Azure (App Service, Functions, Container Apps) and Docker ETL pipelines and data migrations AI-powered features: RAG, embeddings, evaluation loops Observability: metrics, logs, traces Prior forward-deployed, consulting, or customer-facing engineering experience Compensation and Benefits Base salary for this role is $115,000 to $140,000, depending on experience. Medical, dental, and vision insurance begin on the first of the month following 30 days of employment. Paid time off accrues each pay period, totaling 15 days annually.10 paid holidays are provided per year. Employees are provided with the equipment necessary to perform their job. Travel for customer and team time is company-paid. Eligibility Requirements Applicants must live in the Houston metro.Because customer sessions happen live, you'll need to be available during U.S. Central business hours and have a quiet, professional workspace for calls, demos, and screen sharing. This role requires professional English fluency sufficient to independently lead live customer working sessions and demos. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States. This role does not offer visa sponsorship. Employment is contingent on a background check and pre-employment drug screening, in accordance with applicable law. How We Hire Every application is reviewed by a member of our team. We believe hiring deserves a human perspective, and we want to understand the person behind the resume. We place significant emphasis on the video interview. Your experience and accomplishments matter, but so do the way you communicate, think through problems, collaborate, and show up as a teammate. Were a small but mighty company, and every employee has a meaningful impact. We hire selectively because finding the right fit mattersfor our team, our culture, our clients, and for you. Selected applicants will be invited to a 30-minute introductory conversation. Well share more about Valorian, learn more about your background, and talk about what youre looking for in your next role. Next, youll meet with the hiring manager for a 30-minute conversation focused on the role, our tech stack and workflows, and what success looks like in the position. Youll then participate in a practical session with one of our engineers, working through a real, anonymized customer problem. This gives both of us a chance to see how you approach the kind of work youd actually be doing. The final conversation is an introduction to several key members of the Valorian team. Its an opportunity to get to know the people you may be working alongside and ask any remaining questions. We respect your time. We aim to move through the hiring process efficiently and will keep you informed about timing, next steps, and where you stand throughout the process. Our Values These aren't posters on a wall they're how we decide what to build and how we treat each other while we build it. We want people who bring their whole selves to work, take ownership of outcomes rather than tasks, and are direct in how they give and receive feedback. Trustworthy: Committed to building long-term trust by showing up with an authentic high level of care and taking ownership of outcomes, behaviors, and work product. Resourceful: Leverages curiosity, ingenuity, creativity, and innovation to accomplish goals; thinks long term, and is focused on sustainable results. Passionate: Brings infectious energy, passion, and care for what we do and who we work with. Balanced: Strives for harmony in family, health, fun, and energy. Connected: Committed to meaningful communication and healthy conflict through listening, transparency, and the courage to receive and give feedback. Interested? If you're excited about building real products, working directly with the people who use them, and helping define what AI-accelerated development looks like in practice, we'd love to talk. Submit your resume and complete your video screening.
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